


1\ o 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



D0D137HH4^A 



ACOBVANDERZEE 



THE HOLLANDSES OF IOWA 




HEKRV ]'ETKR SrHOLTK 



THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 



BY 

Jacob Van der Zee 



STJOHOa }T?tT?n YHViaH 




PUBLISHED AT IOWA CITY IOWA IN 1912 BY 
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 



THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 



BY 
Jacob Van der Zee 




PUBLISHED AT IOWA CITY IOWA IN 1912 BY 
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 



o >l 1 1 ) k I 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

The author of this volume on The Hollanders 
of lo wa was admirably fitted for the task. Born 
of Dutch parents in The Netherlands and reared 
among kinsfolk in Iowa, he has been a part of the 
life which is portrayed in these pages. At the 
same time Mr. Van der Zee's education at The 
State University of Iowa, his three years' resi- 
dence at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and his 
research work in The State Historical Society 
of Iowa have made it possible for him to study 
the Hollanders objectively as well as subjectively. 
Accordingly, his book is in no respect an over- 
drawn, eulogistic account of the Dutch people. 

The history of the Hollanders of Iowa is not 
wholly provincial : it suggests much that is typi- 
cal in the development of Iowa and in the larger 
history of the West : it is "a story of the stubborn 
and unyielding fight of men and women who over- 
came the obstacles of a new country and handed 
down to their descendants thriving farms and 
homes of peace and plenty." 

Benj. F. Shambaugh 

Office of the Superintendent and Editor 
The State Historical Society of Iowa 
Iowa City Iowa 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

This monograph purports to be a history of ori- 
gins and a sketch of present-day conditions in the 
principal Dutch settlements of Iowa. It is a study 
of immigration and colonization rather than a de- 
tailed account, year by year, of what has been in most 
respects a community life of commonplace respecta- 
bility so characteristic of all large bodies of for- 
eigners in America. In other words it is a series of 
chapters in the history of the Hollanders of Iowa. 
The story of the first years of the Dutch settlements 
in Marion and Sioux counties is one of suffering 
willingly borne: it is a story of the stubborn and 
unyielding fight of men and women who overcame the 
obstacles of a new country and handed down to their 
descendants thriving farms and homes of peace and 
plenty. 

The history of the Hollanders of Iowa typifies the 
development of the American West and the spread 
of the American nation : it is full of details character- 
istic of the large rural settlements of European im- 
migrants in America. It is a pleasure to trace the 

7 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



streams of immigration which have contributed to 
produce the American conmaonwealth. The Hol- 
landers have shown a permanent interest in Ameri- 
can affairs and institutions; they are now closely 
identified with the best interests of democratic gov- 
ernment; and with respect to the qualities requisite 
to success in agriculture they are surpassed by no 
other class of immigrants from Europe. 

Of the movement of Dutch immigrants into the 
State of Iowa, with a statement of causes and of the 
singular experiences which the Dutch pioneers under- 
went, no full or connected account has hitherto ap- 
peared in the English language. Concerning the 
Dutch settlements of Iowa the writer found much 
widely scattered material. From time to time frag- 
mentary sketches written in attractive style have ap- 
peared in English newspapers, magazines, and 
county histories ; but the most valuable and authori- 
tative information is to be obtained from news- 
papers, pamphlets, and books in the Dutch language. 
To all these sources the writer has very largely re- 
sorted and to them he is greatly indebted, as nu- 
merous notes and references will show. 

Desirable biographical data relative to Dutch 
pioneers have been almost entirely relegated to the 
notes and references for the fairly obvious reason 
that if the writer had undertaken to insert such 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



material in the text, lie would have found himself 
engaged upon an endless and ungratifying task. 

The writer wishes to acknowledge the assistance 
which he received from many gentlemen (especially 
Mr. H. P. Scholte and Mr. A. J. Betten) now living 
among the Hollanders at Pella and in Sioux County : 
they very generously gave him access to newspaper 
files and rare Dutch books, copies of which The State 
Historical Society'' of Iowa has not been able to add 
to its valuable collection of materials in the Dutch 
language. Thanks are due also to the editors of 
newspapers (mentioned in a separate chapter) for 
their willing submission to inconvenience while the 
writer was engaged in his researches: to all these 
and to other persons the writer is grateful for many 
courtesies. Especial thanks are due to Dr. Dan E. 
Clark, Assistant Editor of The State Historical So- 
ciety, for numerous suggestions, for corrections in 
the manuscript, and for the index. Finally, this vol- 
ume would not have appeared if the writer had not 
been a Eesearch Associate in The State Historical 
Society working under the direct encouragement of 
its Superintendent, Professor Benj. F. Shambaugh. 

Jacob Van dee Zee 

The State Historical Society of Iowa 
Iowa City 



1 



CONTENTS 

I. Eakly Dutch Settlements in the 

United States 15 

II. Dutch Immigration after 1664 . . 25 

III. Holland in the Nineteenth Century 30 

IV. Why Dutch Emigrants Turned to 

America 37 

V. The Journey to America ... 42 

VI. From Baltimore to St. Louis in 1847 48 
VII. The Reception of Scholte and the 

Dutch in America .... 54 

VIII. The Choice of a Home in Iowa . . 57 
IX. The Arrival of the Hollanders in 

Iowa 65 

X. Marion County and its Farms in 1847 70 
XI. The Establishment of the Dutch 

Community ..... 73 
XII. Years of Privation and Subsequent 

Relief 82 

XIII. Hopes and Disappointments . . 86 

XIV. Early Promotion of Immigration to 

Pella 94 

XV. Twenty-five Years of Dutch Immi- 
gration to Iowa .... 101 

11 



12 



CONTENTS 



XVI. Prosperity at Pella . . . 106 
XVII. Encouragement of Dutch Immi- 
gration BY THE State . . . 115 
XVIII. A Bee-hive Ready for Swarming . 122 
XIX. The Investigation of Northwest- 
ern Iowa in 1869 . . . 127 
XX. The Choice of Sioux County . 132 
XXI. A Glimpse of Sioux County in 1869 136 
XXII. The Platting of Orange City . 140 

XXIII. Henry Hospers and Immigration 

TO Sioux County . . . 150 

XXIV. Locust Ravages and Years of 

Hardship 160 

XXV. Twenty-five Years of Growth in 

the Orange City Colony . . 179 
XXVI. The Expansion of the Dutch Ele- 
ment IN low^A .... 192 
XXVII. Political Beginnings Among the 

Hollanders in Marion County . 208 
XXVIII. Participation by the Hollanders 

in Elections .... 219 
XXIX. Politics in Sioux County . . 235 
XXX. The Dutch Press in Iowa . . 245 
XXXI. Pioneer Schools Among the Hol- 
landers ..... 256 
XXXII. Christian Schools . . . 266 

XXXIII. Public and High Schools , . 271 

XXXIV. Central University of Iowa . . 276 



CONTENTS 



13 



XXXV. NoRTHWESTEKisr Classical Acad- 
emy 280 

XXXVI. Early Religious Life Among the 

Hollanders in Iowa . . 287 
XXXVII. The Dutch Reformed Church 

in Iowa 294 

XXXVIII. The Christian Reformed 

Church in Iowa . . . 305 
XXXIX. Religious Life of the Holland- 
ers IN 1910 .... 310 
XL. Community Life Among the 

Hollanders in Iowa . . 317 
Appendix A. — Letter from Hen- 

DRIK BaRENDREGT TO H. P. 

Scholte 339 

Appendix B. — The Attitude of 
the Hollanders of Iowa Dur- 
ing THE Boer War . . . 349 
Appendix C. — The Dutch Lan- 
guage 363 

Notes and References . . 369 
Index 429 



PLATES 

Portrait of Henry Peter Scholte frontispiece 
Portrait of Henry Hospers . opposite page 150 



EARLY DUTCH SETTLEMENTS IN THE 
UNITED STATES 

TowAEDS the close of the sixteenth century began 
the protracted struggle of a handful of brave people 
against the seemingly invincible power of the wealth- 
iest nation in the world. How the descendants of 
the liberty-loving Batavi of Roman times, dwelling 
like their forebears in the same lowlands of the 
Rhine delta, defied and humbled the armies and 
navies of Spain ; how these hardy Hollanders pros- 
pered in the midst of war and finally won national 
independence and high position in the world — these 
are the noteworthy facts which make the story of the 
Golden Age of Holland a classic in historical litera- 
ture and a cause of pardonable pride to every man 
with Dutch blood in his veins. ^ 

Contemporary with the period of the highest glory 
of the Dutch Republic, when art, learning, industry, 
commerce, religious toleration, and democracy flour- 
ished side by side as nowhere else in Europe, when 
little Holland's name was heard in every quarter of 
the globe, New Netherland came into being in the 
Western Hemisphere. Dutch merchants, moved by 
visions of commercial gain, fitted out a little ship in 
charge of Hendrik Hudson to search for that un- 

15 



16 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

known but alluring northwest sea-passage to China 
and India, the discover}^ of which had defied and 
baffled the most daring navigators of the age. Thus 
Hudson steered the Half Moon westward, not to 
Cathay, but into the river which later received his 
name. This incident proved to be the real beginning 
of Dutch interest in the American continent; and 
thereafter merchants began to ply between the In- 
dians of America and the markets of Europe, for the 
trade in furs and peltries gave promise of much 
profit. 

Approximately all the region which lies between 
the Connecticut and the Susquehanna rivers was 
claimed by the Dutch as their exclusive preserve for 
purposes of trade ; but nothing was done to validate 
this claim until 1624, when the first band of some 
thirty families emigrated from Leyden and made 
settlements on Manhattan and Staten islands and at 
Fort Orange (now Albany).^ These Walloons, who 
had formerly fled from religious persecution in the 
Belgic Netherlands and were not thoroughly Dutch 
except in religious belief and loyalty to the Republic 
and who now forsook the city of their adoption to try 
their fortunes in the wilderness of a New World, 
came as the special charges of the West India Com- 
pany, to the decrees of which they were subject in 
all commercial and political affairs. 

Although the Company's charter contained a pro- 
vision relative to "the peopling of the fruitful and 
unsettled parts" of New Netherland, there appears 
to be little evidence that the Company was ever 



EARLY DUTCH SETTLEMENTS 17 

really sincere in promoting emigration from Hol- 
land except as a means to its chief end — the mo- 
nopoly of trading rights. During the early decades 
of the seventeenth century Dutch ships scoured the 
high seas in search of Spanish ships, for the spoils 
of war were preferred to the less remunerative and 
nobler work of planting a colony in the wilderness.^ 
Wlienever it was rumored that a truce was about to 
be declared, the directors of the Company petitioned 
the States-General of Holland to desist on the ground 
of the damage which they had done to the enemies of 
the republic ; and when peace was at length conclud- 
ed with Spain in 1648 the Company became perma- 
nently crippled. 

During the early history of New Netherland the 
growth of the Dutch population even for purposes of 
trade was insignificant. As a matter of fact condi- 
tions in Holland were quite unfavorable to the pro- 
motion of colonization. While economic and re- 
ligious causes brought thousands of English to a new 
England, labor was well rewarded in Holland and 
religious toleration prevailed in the Dutch provinces. 
Conditions such as these did not induce emigration 
to a strange land where the outlook was so uncertain. 
Furthermore, the Dutch inhabitants in the Hudson 
Eiver region had not only found very scant means of 
livelihood, but they also worried much about the 
dangers from Indians and foreign enemies. The 
Company, moreover, declared that protection was 
possible "at a greater expense than the apparent 
gains to be derived therefrom seem to justify. ' ' * 



18 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

To direct Dutch settlers to New Netherland the 
States-General, urged by the West India Company, 
adopted a novel measure. By a charter of freedoms 
and exemptions large tracts along the Hudson River 
were granted to Dutch burghers who offered to pro- 
cure a certain number of persons to cultivate the 
land. This revival of the feudal system of land- 
holding by patroons proved to be a worthless expe- 
dient: Dutch inhabitants of America continued to 
look to the fur-trade as their main source of wealth ; 
and the patroons, instead of concerning themselves 
with agriculture, ''diverted their energies and means 
in competing with the company for a share of the 
Indian trade." ^ This colonization policy tended to 
retard the settlement and prosperity of New Nether- 
land, so that down to the year 1634 a few forts were 
the chief centers of life — Fort Orange and Fort 
Amsterdam on the Hudson, Fort Good Hope on the 
Connecticut, and Fort Nassau on the Delaware. 

In 1638 the States-General of the Dutch Republic 
complained that the population of New Netherland 
was not increasing as it should ; that, indeed, the colo- 
nists appeared to be decreasing in numbers and to be 
so neglected by the West India Company that if the 
matter were not at once attended to foreign princes 
and potentates would entirely overrun the colony. 
This was a serious complaint, but it brought no tan- 
gible results aside from a resolution to "assist in 
making and enacting such effectual order regarding 
the population of New Netherland, and thereunto 
invite all good inhabitants of these Netherlands by 



EARLY DUTCH SETTLEMENTS 19 

such inducements and pre-eminences as ... . 
they shall resolve to offer to all colonists" who 
wished to emigrate to a land where they might ex- 
pect great profits from farming.** 

Under Governor Kieft conditions in New Nether- 
land assumed no better aspect. It is true that when 
trade with the Indians was thrown open to all in 
1639 a new era began in the history of the colony, 
communicating a decided impulse to its settlement 
and to the increase of population, for fresh colonists 
came not only from the fatherland, but Englishmen 
came also from Virginia and New England.^ It may 
be that free farmers at Esopus, New Paltz, Schenec- 
tady, and on Long Island experienced a certain de- 
gree of prosperity ; but the Indian trade attracted a 
large number of people who cared little to acquire 
a permanent domicile in New Netherland: they came 
for big profits and sacrificed honest dealing with the 
Indians in order to realize their ambition. They 
abused the privilege of free trade and provoked the 
Indians to a series of massacres extending over 
nearly three years. 

For several years the Dutch inhabitants of New 
Netherland maintained themselves in a most miser- 
able and destitute condition: they appealed in vain 
to the States-General for aid, and they failed to ob- 
tain from the West India Company such supplies as 
were most urgently required for their support and 
protection,^ Wlien in 1644 comparative peace had 
been restored upon the high seas the Company was 
urged once more to facilitate emigration from Hoi- 



20 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

land by promising to credit prospective colonists with 
ocean passage to America and by introducing farm 
servants and negroes to promote agriculture. More- 
over, New Netlierlanders were instructed not to 
scatter but to live together as did the New England- 
ers in order to protect each other. 

In 1649 the people of New Netherland addressed 
to the States-General of Holland a long petition, 
enumerating the causes of their colony's wretched 
condition and proposing certain remedies. First of 
all, the petitioners complained very bitterly of the 
inhuman cruelties, tyranny, and misgovernment of 
the servants of the West India Company — especial- 
ly Director Kieft. The Directors, they declared, had 
always been the chief obstruction in the path of pro- 
gress because they preferred to secure for themselves 
large profits from the fur-trade rather than to pro- 
mote solid agricultural prosperity, which alone could 
guarantee the survival of their colony in America. 
Indeed, they had listened more often to interested 
than to sound advice and had given New Netherland 
so evil a reputation that not only prospective colo- 
nists were frightened from setting out to try their 
fortunes in such a country, but scores of dissatisfied 
settlers returned to Holland on account of the un- 
suitable government, the scant privileges, the extor- 
tionate prices, and the heavy impost duties. The pe- 
titioners called attention also to the superabundance 
of petty traders and pedlers, to the need of farmers, 
to the destitution of the inhabitants in general, and 
to the insufferable arrogance of the Indians. 



EARLY DUTCH SETTLEMENTS 21 



The inhabitants of New Netherland proposed, 
among several remedies for the evils of their colony, 
the abolition of duties and the free conveyance of 
poor people from Holland. Their humble petition to 
the States-General was summed up in these words : 

Whenever your High Mightinesses will be pleased to 
take this Province under your gracious safeguard, and al- 
low your Fatherly protection for this Country and its 
granted privileges to be made public and manifest through- 
out the United Netherlands, then would many be attracted 
towards this Country, from which, on the contrary, every 
one is discouraged by the Company's harsh proceedings 
and want of means.^ 

There is no evidence, however, that the Dutch 
government ever thereafter took an active interest 
in the welfare of her American colonists — except 
in 1656 when the States-General ratified the condi- 
tions of an agreement between the West India Com- 
pany and the city of Amsterdam, offering very good 
encouragement to prospective inhabitants of the 
city's colony on the Delaware River." It was not 
until after 1652 that agricultural settlements began 
to grow in New Netherland, owing to the influx of 
Walloons, Huguenots, and Waldenses from Europe 
and Puritans from New England." During the naval 
wars between England and Holland the province of 
New Netherland lay quite defenceless, and Governor 
Stuyvesant's appeals to his profit-loving, money- 
grabbing superiors went unheeded. Whatever else 
may be said about the English capture of the colony 
in 1664, it is fairly evident that a change of masters 



22 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

was not especially distasteful or disadvantageous to 
the Dutch colonists : they had little to lose and much 
to gain/- 

Of the cosmopolitan population of fifteen hundred 
persons in New Amsterdam in 1664 more than one- 
half were Dutch. The same is true of the three 
thousand inhabitants in 1674 when the Dutch re- 
gained the colony for a short period of ownership. 
The entire population of New Netherland when trans- 
ferred to the English is variously estimated: eight 
thousand is considered a liberal figure. Of these 
colonists in 1664, and of the twelve thousand in 1674, 
two-thirds were probably Dutch, while most of the 
remainder were English. Agriculture was then be- 
ginning to prosper, while trade was profitable and 
was extending farther inland. Gradually, and es- 
pecially under a Dutch king on the English throne, 
the two chief elements of the population of New York 
merged and fused because they found a community 
of interest as colonists, entertained a common hos- 
tility towards France, and worshipped God in much 
the same way. In 1667 it was reported that there 
were three towns and fifteen villages, '' besides divers 
extensive Colonies, bouweries and plantations"; 
while in 1673 the province consisted of three cities 
and thirty villages. ^^ 

It must be admitted that Dutch emigrants were 
by no means successful as colonizers in America. 
They were never numerous enough to enable Holland 
permanently to play a great part in the history of 
American colonization. To be sure, the Dutch were 



EARLY DUTCH SETTLEMENTS 23 

at that time not an emigrating but a trading people ; 
and yet the failure of their American colony in the 
seventeenth century should not be attributed wholly 
to their character as a nation of seamen and traders. 
That they have always preferred to cultivate domes- 
tic virtues rather than a love of conquest and adven- 
ture there can be no question." 

It has been asserted that the Dutch could never 
have peopled a continent, on the ground that after 
forty years of possession '^of the fairest part of 
America they numbered but ten thousand", while the 
Puritan colonies of New England contained fifty 
thousand.^^ That this fact should demonstrate the 
utter incapacity of the Dutch for colonization and 
their lack of fitness to found a colonial empire does 
not necessarily follow. Widely different conditions 
prevailed in England and Holland. Nor is it diffi- 
cult to explain why the Dutch came chiefly to trade, 
while the English came to build homes. At that 
period in the world's history there was no particular 
reason why large numbers of Dutch emigrants 
should forsake their European homes to entrust 
themselves to the uncertainties of a foreign land : as 
long as civil and religious contentment reigned in 
Holland the people did not care to live elsewhere. 

Dutch colonization in America was really a cir- 
cumstance attendant upon the religious and political 
struggle between The Netherlands and Spain. Only 
large numbers of colonists bent upon economic and 
religious independence could have coped successfully 
with the Indian population of New Netherland. The 



24 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

few thousands of Hollanders who ventured to cast in 
their lot with the New World suffered much from the 
lack of protection which had been promised to them. 
All this was to be expected from a commercial cor- 
poration actuated wholly by the love of wealth ; and 
so when the Dutch colonists became incorporated 
into the British colonial empire they had no sufficient 
excuse for showing a vigorous spirit of nationality. 
The English Puritans who had sought the shores of 
America for conscience sake were people of property 
and education: from sheer necessity they had been 
compelled to leave their homes and to adapt them- 
selves to the rigors of frontier life. Everything con- 
duced to the spread of the English into America; 
while in the case of the Dutch the same causes and 
incentives were almost entirely lacking. 



n 

DUTCH IMMIGRATION AFTEE 1664 

It is common knowledge that during the colonial 
period the English-speaking population of America 
was constantly reinforced by fresh accessions of 
people from the British Isles, and that to-day the 
American nation is dominated by Anglo-Saxon in- 
fluences. Equally worthy of note is the fact that, 
although for over a century and a half after the Eng- 
lish conquest of New Netherland the immigration of 
Hollanders from Europe had practically ceased, at 
least so far as the number of arrivals can be ascer- 
tained, the eight or ten thousand Dutch colonists of 
1664 nevertheless throve and flourished in the val- 
leys of the Hudson and the Mohawk rivers in New 
York and in northern New Jersey and Delaware. 
There the seeds of a Dutch population took firm root 
and grew vigorously, as is shown by the history of 
the one important institution which the United States 
has inherited from New Netherland — the Dutch 
Reformed Church.^" 

The influence of Dutch ideas as exemplified by the 
continuity of the Reformed Church has never been 
absent in those eastern States where the Dutch origi- 
nally settled. As a matter of fact the American 
descendants of the original Dutch settlers have 

25 



26 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

shown that they are tenacious of the customs and 
ideals which their church organization and home life 
have preserved and handed down to them. This 
more than anything else disproves the assertion that 
early Dutch colonization was but an episode or an 
event of trifling importance in American colonial 
history/^ 

Probably no better light can be shed upon the 
growth of the Dutch element in the United States 
than that which comes from the history of the Dutch 
Reformed Church — though of course it would smack 
of presumption to infer that all descendants of the 
early Dutch have maintained the church connection 
of their fathers, or that all Dutch immigrants to 
America have united with the church. Bearing in 
mind the fact that Hollanders are endowed with a 
strong feeling of national pride and are pretty gen- 
erally partial to ancestral ways and beliefs, it is 
natural to assume that wherever the Dutch have come 
together to live they have retained their national in- 
stitutions, traits, and traditions whenever practi- 
cable. 

When English domination began in New Nether- 
land there were eleven Dutch churches : four on Long 
Island at Midwout (Flatbush), Amersfoort (Flat- 
lands), Breuckelen (Brooklyn), and Gravesend; one 
at Bergen, New Jersey; one at New Amstel (New 
Castle), Delaware; and five in New York at Manhat- 
tan or New Amsterdam, Fort Orange (Albany), 
Esopus (Kingston), Haarlem, and Bushwyck. De- 
spite the amalgamation of Dutch and English which 



DUTCH IMMIGRATION AFTER 1664 27 

ensued, the Hollanders remained predominant in the 
population of New York and continued to speak their 
native langTiage in the Reformed Church for almost 
one hundred years ; while the Church itself, depend- 
ing to a large extent upon the state church of Hol- 
land, looked in that direction for its ministers until 
1772 when national ties were finally broken.^^ 

For many years after 1664 the Dutch carried on 
a successful struggle in New York for the preserva- 
tion of their religious liberty and church organiza- 
tion, and owing to the oppressions of English gover- 
nors many emigrated and formed congregations in 
the valleys of the Raritan and the Millstone in north- 
ern New Jersey, a region which on account of its 
si3iritual prosperity has come to be known as ''the 
Garden of the Dutch Church". Here the people 
afterwards established a college and a theological 
seminary. At the end of their prolonged fight 
against the attempt to foist the Anglican Church es- 
tablishment upon them, the Dutch could boast of an 
increase from eleven churches in 1664 to thirty-four 
in 1708.^'' 

From such feeble beginnings in 1664 under par- 
ticularly trying conditions, although the political in- 
stitutions and language of the Dutch were in course 
of time almost entirely wiped out and supplanted by 
those of the English, the Dutch Reformed Church in 
America developed and prospered until by the year 
1840 it comprised a membership of several hundred 
churches in the States of New York and New Jersey ; 
while a few scattered congregations existed in Penn- 



28 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

sylvania, whither a stream of emigration from New 
Jersey had started towards the close of the eight- 
eenth century. Descendants of Dutch ancestors took 
a prominent part in the westward movement which 
set in after the close of the Revolutionary War. They 
were among the pioneers of western New York and 
of Kentucky, whence it is said "as from a hive, 
colonies swarmed off into southern Ohio and In- 
diana. ' ' Indeed, the names of Dutch pioneers can be 
found throughout the American West. At the same 
time it would be quite impossible to determine the 
number of descendants of the original Dutch colo- 
nists of New Netherland.^" 

There may have been a slight movement of people 
from Holland immediately after the peace treaty of 
1783, but there is no government record of immigra- 
tion prior to 1821. Conjecture places the number of 
immigrants to the United States before 1820 at about 
4000 annually, and of these the Hollanders can not 
have counted more than a small fraction. Statistics 
indicate that for the first two decades of the record 
only 2500 Hollanders arrived at American ports, 
but for the years 1841-1902 inclusive The Nether- 
lands contributed more than 135,000 immigrants to 
the population of the United States.-^ To be sure, 
this is a small percentage of the 20,000,000 foreigners 
who sought American shores; but the Hollanders 
and their descendants have been a desirable and wel- 
come factor in promoting the development and pros- 
perity of the country. 

During the more recent years the Hollanders 



DUTCH IMMIGRATION AFTER 1664 29 

have formed large communities in the upper Missis- 
sippi Valley — chiefly in Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, 
Minnesota, and Wisconsin — though thousands have 
found homes also in New York and New Jersey. 
Census returns for 1900 gave these seven States the 
largest number of foreign-born Dutch, though every 
State and Territory in the Union contained some 
Hollanders in its population.^^ 

Other indexes suggestive of the numerical 
strength of the Hollanders in various States of the 
Union are recent church year-books. While the 
number of foreign-born Dutch in New York and New 
Jersey is comparatively small, it appears that of 
nearly 700 congregations of the Reformed Church in 
America the former State has over 300, and the lat- 
ter 125. Then follow Michigan with 62, Iowa with 
50, Illinois with 33, South Dakota with 20, Wisconsin 
with 15, Minnesota with 11, and Pennsylvania with 
10. Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, 
Colorado, Washington, Ohio, Indiana, South Caro- 
lina, and Maine have a few churches each. Further- 
more, there are about 200 congregations of another 
denomination, the Christian Reformed Church, 
planted for the most part in the western States and 
therefore more solidly Dutch than the Reformed 
Church congregations, whose membership, in the 
East especially, consists by no means exclusively of 
Hollanders.^* 



Ill 

HOLLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTUEY 

The causes which brought about the extraordinary 
migrations from Europe to America during the nine- 
teenth century were primarily economic. No cor- 
responding period in the world's history illustrates 
more forcibly the well-known simile that population 
is like a fluid : when the saturation point is reached, 
emigration is the natural consequence. During the 
first half of the century the population of nearly 
every country in Europe reached such density and 
laborers became so plentiful that the masses of the 
people were forced to seek a way of escape from 
degradation and starvation. 

In The Netherlands during the early decades of 
the nineteenth century social conditions were as un- 
favorable generally as they were everywhere else in 
Europe. There, religious and economic factors 
joined hands and caused thousands of discouraged 
and dissatisfied people to long for a New World. A 
closer view of the history of Holland reveals the 
motives which contributed to bring about the first 
extensive emigration of Hollanders to the primeval 
forests of Michigan and the virgin prairies of Iowa 
and other western States.-* 

Upon coming to the throne of Holland in 1814 

30 



HOLLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 31 

William I at once turned his attention to the state 
church which had suffered much humiliation at the 
hands of Napoleon and the French and which was 
therefore eager to return to royal favor at whatever 
cost. He approved a set of general regulations to be 
used by a central board for administrative purposes. 
These regulations prescribed the maintenance of the 
creed as embodied in the Dutch Confession of f^aith, 
the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Doctrinal Rules 
of the Synod of Dort of 1618. 

Church government was placed in the hands of a 
general synod composed of delegates from provin- 
cial synods, whose selection was to remain under 
royal control. Ecclesiastical property was trans- 
ferred to the state; and the clergy were henceforth 
to receive their salaries from the state exchequer, 
thus being bound to the king by spiritual and finan- 
cial ties. Furthermore, the clergy were to be edu- 
cated at the three universities of Utrecht, Leyden, 
and Groningen, whose theological professors were 
by law declared state officers, since they were chosen, 
appointed, and salaried by the government. Thus 
the Presbyterian form of church government was 
reduced to an oligarchy under the king's patronage.^^ 

Irregularities in the Church and deviation from 
its doctrines were conspicuous enough to alarm the 
orthodox, conservative Christians throughout the 
country — especially when the general synod, en- 
dowed with autocratic powers, did nothing to lessen 
existing grievances. At length in 1834, under the 
leadership of a few clergymen, scores of people se- 



32 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ceded from the state church and formed small con- 
gregations. The seceding clergymen were Henry 
de Cock, Henry Peter Scholte, Anthony Brummel- 
kamp, S. van Velzen, G. F. Gezelle Meerburg, and 
Albertus C. van Eaalte.-'' Of this group of men, all 
of whom were excommunicated from the Church, 
Scholte was undoubtedly the foremost figure. In- 
deed he has been called the ' ' Father of the Separa- 
tion", and he it was who later led hundreds of his 
fellow-countrymen to the State of lowa.-^ 

But King William was a man who would not al- 
low his pet schemes to be overridden. It is almost 
incredible that a government of the nineteenth cen- 
tury should have stooped to bitter religious persecu- 
tion — especially in Holland so long famed for her 
tolerance and freedom of worship. One can not help 
marveling at the petty nature of the measures taken 
by the Dutch government to suppress the Separatist 
movement. Though Scholte and his colleagues were 
declared unsuitable and unworthy to preach, they 
were by no means deserted by their congregations. 
Nor did they desist from preaching. The result was 
that everywhere small congregations were formed 
and the new Separatist church became definitely es- 
tablished. 

In their endeavors to restore purity of doctrine 
and to preach God's Word, the Separatist clergymen 
were hindered in every possible way. Under cover 
of an article of the Code Napoleon forbidding as- 
semblies of more than twentj^ persons without a 
license from the local authorities, the government 



HOLLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 33 

used every means to disperse Separatist meetings, 
whether held in barns, in the open air, or in private 
houses. Thus the police took a hand in breaking up 
local gatherings; and numerous Separatists were 
prosecuted and punished with fines or imprisonment. 
Worst of all, wherever the new movement claimed 
an especially large number of adherents, the govern- 
ment used its authority to quarter troops in order to 
overawe the people and prevent mutiny.^^ 

The Separatists had, moreover, to suffer all the 
penalties imposed by law. Scholte, one of their 
leaders, could write that he had experienced military 
watches, imprisonments, and the payment of fines 
and court costs amounting to $3200. But even more 
intolerable were the taunts and ridicule heaped upon 
the Separatists by other inhabitants of The Nether- 
lands. Scholte complained that he had been derided, 
hit with stones and fists, and when hundreds of hands 
were raised against him he had heard the excited 
mob cry out, "Kill him, kill him!" ^^ 

Despite the government's relentless persecution, 
the religious beliefs of the Separatists spread until 
they were finally recognized by royal decree in 1839. 
Seven years later, however, two of their leaders still 
loudly exclaimed against local government officials 
who employed every means to postpone the granting 
of permission to preach as the new law obliged them 
to do and who, furthermore, received the encourage- 
ment of ''nearly all who call themselves noble and 
religious" — although some would gladly have 
granted what the law enjoined had they not felt 



34 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

''that thereby they would fall into disfavor with au- 
thorities higher up." Even as late as 1846 the com- 
plaint was sometimes heard that citizens were being 
dragged into court and fined for tlie misdemeanor 
' ' of using their houses for the worship of God with- 
out the government's authority, and for preaching 
the name of Christ crucified" to more than twenty 
persons.^** 

In the minds of the Dissenters there was one 
other object of prime importance, namely. Christian 
education. Everywhere arose a crying demand for 
the improvement of the system of popular education ; 
and yet those who wished to take tlie pains and bear 
the expense of organizing Christian schools were 
hindered by the local authorities. They desired the 
privilege of educating their children in their own 
schools inasmuch as the state offered only a general 
education in morals, which neither Jew nor Roman 
Catholic might refuse. But the government looked 
upon special schools with unconcealed disfavor and 
forbade the founding of such institutions.^^ 

Just how much effect the religious beliefs of the 
Dissenters had upon their chances of earning a live- 
lihood can not be stated with certainty. That these 
people were oppressed, despised, and cast out there 
can be little doubt. But even so, the mass of laborers 
in Holland at this time lived upon the verge of star- 
vation. Wlien a small farm was placed on the mar- 
ket for rent or for sale, a score or two of men found 
it a suitable opportunity for speculation. When a 
house was to be built, a score of carpenters offered 



HOLLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 35 

bids. These and many other instances indicate that 
economic conditions were extremely bad throughout 
the country. 

The masses of the people were being crushed by 
a system of taxation devised to liquidate the enor- 
mous national debt which had been heaped up from 
years of war. Many branches of industry and com- 
merce had disappeared, although others continued 
to thrive. Hundreds of ordinary workmen lost their 
means of earning bread. Even skilled artisans com- 
plained of the lack of labor during the busiest season 
of the year. There was as a consequence so much 
competition in the labor market that wages were re- 
duced to pathetically low figures. Workmen, upon 
whom children and sometimes relatives depended, 
sought in vain for an opportunity to make so much 
as a bare living. Brought to the point of stealing, 
thousands hoi^elessly surrendered themselves to be 
supported by the state. Eight million dollars were 
annually expended upon them by the Dutch govern- 
ment; while private benefactions were at the same 
time enormous. National deterioration was daily 
being aggravated by the lamentable undermining of 
trade, the decrease of wages, unscrupulous competi- 
tion, and exhaustive taxation. ''The third estate is 
disappearing, the capital of the rich increases, and 
day laborers very often fail in their most serious en- 
deavors to find either regailar work or bread. ' ' 

Scholte declared that though the condition of his 
fatherland did not yet make emigration inevitable he 
was forced to acknowledge that if a change were not 



36 THE HOLLANDERS OP IOWA 

soon effected a Christian would find it impossible to 
engage in any business without offending his con- 
science. He could not close his eyes to the increasing 
poverty of his fellow-countrymen: from the picture 
of their struggles and privations he could find no 
relief.^^ 



IV 

WHY DUTCH EMIGRANTS TURNED TO 
AMERICA 

Such was tlie condition of tilings in Tlie Netherlands 
that thousands of people lived from hand to month, 
the prey of poverty and hunger, stupefied by the 
hopelessness of securing the necessities of life, and 
barely enabled through the gifts of the well-to-do to 
drag out their wretched lives. At the same time 
many of these unfortunate persons were hopeful and 
eager to find a place where they might obtain a liveli- 
hood, lead quiet lives of honesty and godliness, and 
educate their children in the principles of religion 
without let or hindrance. The leaders of the Sepa- 
ratists looked forward to a life of freedom in a land 
where man would not have to wait for work but 
where work awaited man, where people would not 
rub elbows by reason of the density of population, 
and where God's creation would welcome the coming 
of man.^^ 

When social forces such as these, mostly beyond 
human control, began to operate with increasing 
power the Dutch people were not slow to recognize 
the truth that emigration was absolutely necessary. 
The seriousness of the situation dawned upon all 
thinking men — especially upon state officials, who 

37 



38 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

feared that unless the stream of emigration could be 
directed toward the Dutch colonies their country 
would suffer an enormous drain of capital and hmnan 
lives. Accordingly the attention of prospective emi- 
grants was called to the Dutch East Indies — chiefly 
to the advantages of the rich island of Java, ''that 
paradise of the world, the pearl in Holland's crown". 

The religion of the Dissenters, however, was re- 
sponsible for turning the balance in favor of some 
other land. To them Java was as a closed door. Be- 
side the fear of an unhealthful climate towered the 
certainty of legislation hostile to their Christian 
principles and ideals. Moreover, could poor men 
afford the expense of transportation thither and 
could they feel assured of getting land or work in 
Java? State officials, men of learning, and men of 
business from several parts of the country were sum- 
moned to an important conference at Amsterdam to 
discuss the whole emigration movement. The Sepa- 
ratist leaders were asked why they should not remain 
Netherlanders under the House of Orange by remov- 
ing to the colonies just as the people of the British 
Isles found homes in the English colonies. Two 
Separatist ministers appealed to the government to 
direct the flood of emigration toward Java by prom- 
ises of civil and religious liberty. But the attempt 
to secure a free Christian colony in Java produced 
only idle expectations.^* 

Then it was that the people turned their eyes 
away from the East toward the United States of 
North America, a land of freedom and rich blessings 



WHY THE DUTCH TURNED TO AMERICA 39 

where they hoped to find in its unsettled interior 
some spot adaptable to agriculture and thus rescue 
themselves from the miseries of a decadent state. 
To the discontented, ambitious Hollander was pre- 
sented the picture of a real land of promise, where 
all things would smile at him and be prepared, as it 
were, to aid him. It was said that '^ after an ocean 
passage of trifling expense the Netherlander may 
find work to do as soon as he sets foot on shore ; he 
may buy land for a few florins per acre ; and feel 
secure and free among a people of Dutch, German 
and English birth, who will rejoice to see him come 
to increase the nation's wealth." Asserting that 
they could vouch for the truthfulness of this picture, 
as based on the positive assurances and experiences 
of friends already in America, the Separatist clergy- 
man-pamphleteers openly declared that they would 
not hesitate to rob Holland of her best citizens by 
helping them on their way to America. 

Of the people and government of the United 
States, Scholte, who was destined to lead hundreds 
of his countrymen to the State of Iowa, at an early 
date cherished a highly favorable opinion, which he 
expressed as follows : 

I am convinced that a settlement in some healthful 
region there will have, by the ordinary blessing of God, ex- 
cellent temporal and moral results, especially for the rising 
generation. . . . Should it then excite much wonder that 
I have firmly resolved to leave The Netherlands and together 
with so many Christian relatives adopt the United States 
as a new fatherland? 



40 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

There I shall certainly meet with the same wickedness 
which troubles me here; yet I shall find also opportunity 
to work. There I shall certainly find the same, if not still 
greater, evidence of unbelief and superstition; but I shall 
also find a constitutional provision wliicli does not bind my 
hands in the use of the Sword of the Spirit, which is the 
Word of God ; there I can fight for what I believe without 
being disobedient to the magistrates and authorities or- 
dained by God. There I shall find among men the same 
zeal to obtain this world's goods; but I shall not find the 
same impulse to get the better of one another, for compe- 
tition is open to all ; I shall not find the same desire to re- 
duce the wages of labor, nor the same inducement to avoid 
taxation, nor the same peevishness and groaning about the 
burden of taxation. 

There I shall find no Minister of Public Worship, for 
the separation of Church and State is a fact. There I shall 
not need to contribute to the support of pastors whose 
teachings I abhor. I shall find no school commissions nor 
school super\dsors who prohibit the use of the Bible in 
schools and hinder the organization of special schools, for 
education is really free. I shall find there the descendants 
of earlier inhabitants of Holland, among whom the piety of 
our forefathers still lives, and who are now prepared to give 
advice and aid to Hollanders who are forced to -come to 
them.^' 

Scholte, however, never claimed to be a refugee 
from the oppression of the Old World. He left 
Europe because the social, religious, and political 
condition of his native country was such that, accord- 
ing to his conviction, he could not with any reason- 
able hope of success work for the actual benefit of 



WHY THE DUTCH TURNED TO AMERICA 41 

honest and industrious f ellowmen. Very many mem- 
bers of Scholte's emigrant association felt certain 
that they and their children would sink from the mid- 
dle class and end their lives as paupers, if they re- 
mained in Holland. 

Later emigration to America was in no small de- 
gree due to a cause which has always operated in 
inducing people to abandon their European homes. 
After a period of residence in America, Hollanders, 
elated by reason of their prosperity and general 
change of fortune, very naturally reported their de- 
light to friends and relatives in the fatherland, 
strongly urging them to come and share their good 
luck instead of suffering from want in Holland. 
They wrote of higher wages, fertile soil, cheapness of 
the necessities of life, abundance of cheap land, and 
of many other advantages. If one's wages for a 
day's work in America equalled a week's earnings in 
Holland, surely it was worth while to leave that un- 
fortunate country. Such favorable reports as these 
were largely instrumental in turning the attention 
of Hollanders to the New "World as the one great 
land of opportunity.^® 



V 

THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA 

No SOONER had the ferment caused by over-popula- 
tion, scarcity of work, and religious discontent shown 
its effect in the stir of jjeople desirous of finding re- 
lief in the New World than certain leaders arose to 
give advice and directions. Chief among these were 
the dissenting clergymen van Raalte, Brummelkamp, 
and Scholte, who as pamphleteers and speakers ex- 
erted a powerful influence upon the emigration move- 
ment. They perceived the perils which might flow 
from indiscreet and indiscriminate emigration, and 
accordingly they cautioned prospective emigrants 
against removing to America without all necessary 
information. Among the numerous dangers which 
they foresaw and most earnestly pointed out were 
settling in the fatally hot marsh and rice lands of the 
slave States and scattering among English-speaking 
people — two disadvantages which were capable of 
rendering Hollanders extremely miserable. 

In view of such risks the Separatist clergymen 
not only urged the formation of emigrant associa- 
tions, but assisted in their organization in various 
parts of Holland. These societies, which consisted 
of the heads of families and other members of church 
congregations and which were not limited to Dissen- 

42 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA 43 



ters, were formed to procure funds to defray the 
expenses of emigration and to serve their members 
in every possible way. Profane, immoral, or intem- 
perate persons were not admitted to membership. 
Avowed atheists, skeptics, and Eoman Catholics also 
were excluded. Those members who could command 
the means were expected to take charge of one or 
more poor but w^orthy persons or families desiring 
to emigrate. 

The leaders at once began to search for a region 
in America with temperate climate and one from 
which the inhabitants might easily transport their 
products : there the emigrant associations might sep- 
arately or jointly establish themselves. In advocat- 
ing the purchase of sufficient land in one locality the 
members of the associations had their own personal 
interests at heart. They wished to make scattering 
impossible, to prevent their colony from becoming 
the hiding-place of those who desired to escape their 
creditors ; and they hoped to secure themselves 
against undesirable persons in general. But first 
of all they determined in this way to provide for their 
own form of religious worship. Christian education, 
and prompt medical attention.^^ In associations, 
therefore, the clergyman leaders saw strength — 
' ' eendracht maakt macht. ' ' 

The reason which moved such clergymen as van 
Eaalte and Scholte to encourage people to emigrate 
in bodies was traceable to the intimate relations 
existing between them and their congregations. For 
many years they had striven and suffered together. 



44 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

and at the price of much self-sacrifice they had in 
some measure realized their aspirations. Would not 
this whole gain be rendered of no account if the Dis- 
senters spread themselves among strangers in a 
strange land, and would they not be as sheep without 
a shepherd? ''That they had the courage, in the 
interests of their followers, to break the chains whicli 
bound them to the fatherland is to the honor of 
Seholte and van Eaalte, and sets the stamp of up- 
rightness on their intentions." Thus the destinies 
of pastors and flocks became linked together.^® 

After much discussion of the subject of emigra- 
tion at informal gatherings and also in Seholte 's 
periodical devoted to tlie religious views of the new 
sect, a formal meeting was called in the city of 
Utrecht in the month of August, 1846. An emigrant 
association was formed of nearly seventy well-to-do 
families, mostly from the province of South Holland. 
Later many more families from other provinces 
joined, so that the society is said to have had one 
thousand three hundred members.^® A committee of 
delegates selected from various congregations of 
Dissenters to draw up rules to govern the emigration 
movement convened at Utrecht on September 4, 1846. 
Wlien they computed the amount of land which the 
association was prepared to buy it was found that 
the members had subscribed for the purchase of 
twelve square miles of territory. Later the pur- 
chase of much additional land was authorized. 

During the summer of 1846 certain members of 
the Utrecht association decided to undertake the 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA 45 

journey to America as soon as possible. Although 
they had not yet determined which part of the United 
States would be most suitable for settlement, these 
Hollanders, numbering thirty persons young and old, 
being the first emigrants who later founded homes in 
the State of Iowa, bade farewell to their friends and 
fatherland on October 2, 1846. 

This little band of people paved the way for the 
exodus of Hollanders the following spring. As fore- 
runners of Dutch emigration to the Middle West of 
America, in company with home-seekers from other 
parts of Europe, they set sail from Eotterdam. After 
being detained by a three days ' storm in the English 
Channel their ship was steered into the North Sea 
along the eastern coast of England and around Scot- 
land, and thence, with favorable wind and weather 
they completed forty-five days of sailing and set foot 
upon American soil at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 
November 19, 1846. Hendrik Barendregt, the leader 
of the party, in a letter to Scholte from St. Louis 
dated December 14, 1846, praised and thanked the 
Lord "who has shown us day by day that He is with 
us and out of his abundant love has led and saved us, 
and given us strength, even more than we could ex- 
pect." He described the five-thousand-mile water 
journey, and on conditions in the Mississippi Valley 
he made many intelligent observations which afford- 
ed much instruction and information to oncoming 
emigrants from Holland.*^' (See Appendix A.) 

At the last meeting of the Utrecht association, 
which was held on the 25th of December, 1846, the 



46 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

members adopted a constitution, elected H.P.Scholte 
and A. J. Betten president and vice-president re- 
spectively, and chose as council J. F. Le Cocq, G. H. 
Overkamp, A. Wigny, and J. Rietveld, with I. Over- 
kamp as secretary. They fixed upon late March or 
early April in 1847 as the best time for their depar- 
ture to the New World. ''^ The first to disembark up- 
on American shores in the spring of the year 1847 
were Scholte and his family, who had left Rotterdam 
and traveled by way of London and Liverpool to Bos- 
ton, arriving on the steamboat "Sarah Sand" early 
in the month of May after a journey of thirteen 
days." 

When the time came for the great body of mem- 
bers of the Utrecht association to take final leave of 
relatives, friends, and the fatherland and set out for 
a country of which they knew comparatively nothing, 
four three-masters were chartered to convey them to 
America. The "Nagasaki" left Rotterdam on April 
the 11th with over two hundred persons on board; 
and at about the same time the ships "Maasstroom" 
and "Catharina Jackson" set sail with about one 
hundred and ninety-seven and one hundred and sixty- 
nine passengers respectively; while the "Pieter 
Floris" departed from Amsterdam with men, wo- 
men, and children numbering about two hundred and 
twenty- two. In all there were approximately one 
hundred and sixty families, and these together with 
many unmarried persons comprised a total of over 
eight hundred individuals.*^ Their leaders were A. 
Wigny, Rev. A. J. Betten, G. H. Overkamp, Isaac 



THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA 47 

Overkamp, J. F. Le Cocq, H. Y. Viersen, J. Rietveld, 
and J. Smeenk, two of whom were assigned to each 
ship to exercise general supervision and to take 
turns in coiiducting daily religious services on ship- 
board. 

Seven or eight weeks were consumed in making 
the ocean voyage to America. Despite terrible 
storms and such discomforts as awaiting one's turn 
to cook meals on the ship's stove, general peace and 
satisfaction reigned in the community life on board 
the sailing-vessels. Though the time passed without 
serious mishap, two adults and eighteen children 
found graves in the Atlantic. Several children were 
born. The emigrants looked forward patiently and 
hopefully to better things to come in the New World, 
and during these weeks upon the water they were 
enabled to become better acquainted with one an- 
other : their interests became more closely identified 
and their aims became more clearly defined. The 
four little ships finally cast anchor in the harbor of 
Baltimore, Maryland — the first late in May and the 
last early in June. Much happiness prevailed when 
the Hollanders beheld American shores, for it meant 
the end of a tedious ocean trip. 

Thus the first large organized body of emigrants 
who forsook the intolerable conditions of The Neth- 
erlands willingly submitted to inconvenience and suf- 
fering in order to find a better life in America ; but 
they were to experience still greater discomforts and 
griefs before finally establishing themselves upon the 
prairies of lowa.^* 



VI 

FROM BALTIMORE TO ST. LOUIS IN 1847 

As PRESIDENT of tliG Utrecht emigrant association 
Scholte preceded liis flock to America, landing at 
Boston two or three weeks before the little fleet of 
sailing-vessels entered the harbor of Baltimore. He 
visited Albany, New York City, and Washing-ton in 
search of all kinds of information that might be use- 
ful and necessary in determining where the proposed 
colony of Hollanders should be established, and of his 
experiences in eastern States he later wrote a de- 
tailed account.*^ 

It was a part of Scholte 's work to investigate the 
best means of inland transportation for the Hol- 
landers who were coming. He was thus enabled to 
come into touch with a class of persons all too com- 
mon at that period in the history of immigration to 
the United States. These ''Iddnappers and deceiv- 
ers", like bands of hungry wolves, stormed each in- 
coming ship of European emigrants. In their schem- 
ing attempts to gain the foreigner's confidence, they 
manifested the utmost concern in his welfare, warned 
him of the danger of falling into the snares of liars, 
and offered to conduct him to a good lodging place 
and to explain the best and cheapest mode of travel 
in America. 

48 



FROM BALTIMORE TO ST. LOUIS IN 1847 49 

Every transportation office at American ports 
was said to have such men in its service. As a 
means of exploiting the purses of foreigners the sys- 
tem proved to be so insidious that Scholte could not 
confidently recommend a reliable office. He later 
urged emigrating Europeans to be prepared to speak 
English, and above all, to familiarize themselves with 
North American conditions before leaving their 
homes, so that they might personally study and in- 
vestigate steamboat and railway connections in 
America. 

Scholte naively observed that these "ronselaars" 
at American ports had become "so accustomed to 
see incoming ships filled with half-starved Irishmen 
or ill-smelling Germans that the rumor of the coming 
of so many Hollanders, with money in their pockets 
and clean looks besides, goaded their zeal anew to 
give chase after what people here have already quite 
generally learned to call 'willempjes'." Among the 
men whose appetite for these ten-florin gold pieces 
or ' ^ little Williams ' ' had suddenly been whetted were 
many Hollanders who were acquainted with the per- 
sonal history and circumstances of some of their on- 
coming countrymen or were informed by allies equal- 
ly concerned in Holland. Scholte wrote from Iowa 
that one could form no adequate conception of this 
branch of industry in American harbors: ''a man 
should almost be able to read their hearts if he wishes 
to be secure from paying toll in one form or another 
to this host of unofficial officers." 

Aroused by what he had learned of the American 



50 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

commercial world in the ports, and especially at New 
York City, Scliolte recognized the necessity of meet- 
ing the vessels which bore his followers ; and when he 
received the glad tidings that one ship had reached 
its destination and later that the others were in 
sight, he hastened by rail to Baltimore where he 
"could rejoice in the safe arrival of those with whom 
I should henceforth live in common." *'^ 

Baltimore, then described as a large city with 
hundreds of ships anchored or moored in its harbor, 
and chickens, hogs, and cattle running loose upon its 
muddy streets, shocked the Hollanders who were ac- 
customed to seeing orderly, well-kept highways in 
city and town and gravel roads throughout the 
country. Wearied by weeks of monotonous sailing, 
they expected to see a picture more attractive than 
that which presented itself at their introduction to 
*'the land of promise". The journey overland they 
hoped would be more pleasant and more varied; but 
their first impressions were frankly disappointing. 
The sight of a bustling sea-port with ill-kept streets 
and make-shift buildings unpleasantly checked any 
rising enthusiasm. 

Americans had not in a long time seen foreigners 
who appeared so neat and brought so much property 
with them. Various newspapers reported the ar- 
rival of the Dutch emigrants; and some accounts 
''were so exaggerated that one would almost believe 
the treasures of Peru had been transported to the 
New World in the boxes and baskets and packs of 
these people from Holland, which gained strength in 



FRO]\r BALTIMORE TO ST. LOUIS IN 1847 51. 



many places because the Hollanders usually had to 
exchange their gold money in order to pay for 
things." The latter circumstance was also instru- 
mental many times in persuading Americans "to 
charge us more than they were accustomed to take 
from Irish or Germans." " 

Early in June, 1847, the Hollanders commenced 
their journey from Baltimore into the American in- 
terior, finishing the first stage by rail as far as Co- 
lumbia, Pennsylvania, a town which lay at the junc- 
tion of two railroads and a canal. Indeed, people 
traveled from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh by what 
was then called the Pennsylvania Canal and Port- 
age Railway — for the construction of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad from Harrisburg was not begun until 
1847 nor completed until 1854. 

At Columbia the immigrants were packed ''like 
herrings" into canal-boats and conveyed nearly two 
hundred miles up the beautiful valleys of the Sus- 
quehanna and Juniata rivers with their great wooded 
ridges and picturesque scenery to Hollidaysburg at 
the foot of the Alleghany Mountains. From there 
they had the unique experience of being ''portaged" 
up the mountain slope: they were placed in cars, 
drawn up a series of inclined planes by stationary 
locomotives, and passing through a tunnel near the 
mountain-top, they were let down inclined planes on 
the western slope to Johnstown, a distance of nearly 
forty miles. Thence they continued by canal down 
the Conemaugh Valley for over one hundred miles to 
Pittsburgh.*^ 



52 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Having arrived at Pittsburgh from beyond the 
Alleghanies, the Hollanders continued westward by a 
route equally historic, the Ohio Eiver, which in those 
days was the principal means of communication be- 
tween the East and the Mississippi Valley. Steam- 
boat traffic on this river was then just at the begin- 
ning of its greatest prosperity. Through this so- 
called "Gateway to the West" the Hollanders 
reached the Mississippi Eiver, which they ascended 
as far as St. Louis, having covered one thousand 
miles by steamboat. 

Three weeks were consumed in this journey over- 
land to St. Louis. Although the newcomers saw 
much wonderful scenery and marveled at young 
America's gigantic strides, they found American 
methods of travel very unpleasant and fatiguing. 
Mothers of large families of young children were 
driven almost frantic. Indeed, the hearts of all the 
immigrants were constantly filled with anxiety. 
Nearly three months of ceaseless motion on the jour- 
ney from their homes in Holland to the American in- 
terior had severely tried their patience, and enough 
had happened "to extinguish their last spark of 
poetrj'. ' ' *^ 

The immigrants were thankful to stop for a 
breathing spell at St. Louis, for they deemed it best 
to wait until a site should be found for their colony. 
All received a glad welcome from the small band of 
countrjTuen who had already passed several months 
in St. Louis. For so many people not enough dwell- 
ings were to be found at once ; accordingly, wooden 



FROM BALTIMORE TO ST. LOUIS IN 1847 53 

sheds were hastily constructed to accommodate them. 
Then early in July, 1847, in a ''booming" frontier 
city of thirty thousand people, they set about to look 
for work, "wherein some who like to work were very 
successful, while others who had formed a picture of 
America like children have of Gocagne were less for- 
tunate in finding what they did not seriously seek. ' ' 
Of the eight hundred emigrants who left Holland 
twenty lost their lives upon the Atlantic, and four are 
said to have died on the journey from Baltimore. 
"At St. Louis, however, the number of deaths was 
larger. The unusual experiences of the trip, the 
cramped quarters at St. Louis, the extraordinary heat 
in that rapidly growing city, the irregular and care- 
less consumption of food and drink, and the disre- 
gard by some of Dutch cleanliness caused illness and 
consequent death. ' ' ^° 



VII 

THE EECEPTION OF SCHOLTE AND THE 
DUTCH IN AMERICA 

At Boston Scliolte remained just long enough to give 
his family a few days of rest after the ocean journey. 
Here he soon perceived that Americans were not 
only frank in their friendliness but also genuinely 
concerned about the emigration from Holland. At 
the same time he records that he failed to find a 
community of spiritual belief in ''that capital of 
American rationalism." 

Scholte next went to Albany where he was openly 
welcomed by the good Christian people of the city 
and given an opportunity to preach the gospel to the 
Hollanders who had but recently arrived from Eu- 
rope and to the older inhabitants who either could 
still speak Dutch or merely recalled that it was the 
language of the founders of their city and State. To 
Scholte it was a striking experience to be asked im- 
mediately to preach God's Word in one of the prin- 
cipal churches in a land where he was a stranger, 
''while", as he writes, "in the land of my birth most 
public places for the worship of God were closed to 
me, and even those who in their homes called me 
brother in Christ would not have dared to allow me to 
take charge of services in their churches ' '. Such was 
the kindness which he received at the hands of 

54 



RECEPTION OF THE DUTCH IN AMERICA 55 

ministers in and near New York City and at Pitts- 
burgh that when he wrote about it later, he con- 
fessed: "Had I not been bound to our Association, 
I certainly could not have withstood the pressure of 
persons who urged me to stay in the State of New 
York and once more to hold regular services in the 
Dutch language." 

Everywhere among the Christian people of Amer- 
ica it appears that Scholte discovered a hearty and 
wide-awake interest in the emigration from Holland. 
"I believe", he wrote, "that in general they cherish 
a too lofty opinion of us. In their conversation and 
newspapers we are represented as resembling the 
God-fearing Pilgrims who first settled in the United 
States. They regard our coming to this land of civil 
and religious liberty as one of God's blessings on 
their country. . . . Oftentimes a sense of shame 
and embarrassment comes over me when I stop to 
look at myself and our Association, and then con- 
sider the high thoughts which people entertain of us, 
and see that, while the Germans who come here are 
less highly esteemed, the Hollanders are held in hon- 
or and are often placed on an equality with Ameri- 
cans. ' ' 

And Scholte could testify that the Hollanders re- 
ceived favorable treatment at the hands not only of 
individual Christians and Christian churches, but 
also of State officials and State assemblies. For, he 
said, "I myself had an experience of this sort at Al- 
bany, where the legislature had just convened and I 
wished to look on for a moment. Recognized by one 
of the members, I was compelled to take a seat in the 



56 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

midst of them. How different from Holland! In 
the land of our birth branded and treated as a de- 
spised congregation, misunderstood by everyone, 
shoved aside, trampled upon and bruised ; in the land 
of strangers and above all in its most respectable 
part, honored and treated as a costly gift of God to 
improve their country ! ' ' 

At St. Louis where the Americans did not under- 
stand the Dutch language and had scarcely thought 
of Hollanders before, the immigrants were just as 
cordially welcomed as in the East; and so long as 
they remained in the city, a Presbyterian congrega- 
tion allowed them the free use of a spacious base- 
ment room for regnilar Sunday services, providing 
heat when necessary, and even helping the needy 
sick. The Hollanders were also permitted to take ad- 
vantage of the instruction in English afforded by the 
Presbyterian Sunday-school. 

Of their reception in America one of the Hol- 
landers afterwards wrote: "With none too much 
praise can one speak of the good- will, accommoda- 
tion, and direct aid with which the Dutch emigrants 
met at places where they stopped, not least at St. 
Louis." As for their willingness to help and kind- 
ness to oblige, Americans were said to put the Hol- 
landers to shame, and Scholte could say in conclu- 
sion: ''In this way America speaks and thinks, in 
this way America treats the Hollanders who were 
so oppressed in their native land in matters civil and 
religious that they were forced to leave. That God 
has done for us"." 



VIII 

THE CHOICE OF A HOME IN IOWA 

Before the departure of Scholte and his association 
from Holland another leader of the Seceders, van 
Raalte, had established a Dutch settlement in the 
State of Michigan. Van Raalte wrote to his former 
fellow-countrymen in Europe that he preferred Mich- 
igan to Iowa or Wisconsin because his colony lay near 
the large cities of Milwaukee, Racine, and Chicago, 
and the Illinois Canal. It was therefore conveniently 
situated for eastern and southern markets ; besides, 
railroads were spreading throughout the State, and 
the large areas of government forest land, though 
very cheap, were very valuable. Van Raalte further 
asserted that the climate farther south was very un- 
healthful, and that upon the unanimous recommenda- 
tion of trustworthy men he had been obliged to look 
away from Iowa to Michigan as his choice. As his 
reasons for selecting timber lands he urged that they 
were more healthful than fresh-plowed prairie, and 
demanded from people of small means smaller ex- 
penditures of money at the beginning, since they 
yielded lumber for houses and barns, abundance of 
work for many classes of artisans, good crops from 
the clearings, and rich grass for dairy farming." 
Van Raalte expressed a hope that his friend 

57 



58 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Scliolte would also conduct his association to Michi- 
gan rather than to Iowa, where he felt convinced the 
Hollanders could not do so well. Indeed, when 
Scholte was at New York he received information 
from the little band of Hollanders at St. Louis that 
van Eaalte had invited them to come to Michigan, 
but that after some correspondence and the inspec- 
tion of other lands they had decided not to accept his 
invitation. Teunis Keppel, one of their number who 
had been appointed in Holland as a member of the 
committee to investigate various localities in the 
American interior, had made a trip to Michigan in 
order to make a personal examination and prepare a 
faithful report on conditions there.^^ 

During the short time which he spent in cities of 
the East, before he joined his association at Balti- 
more, Scholte did not forget the colony founded by 
his colleague in the woods of Michigan. Indeed, he 
was forcibly reminded of it when collections of money 
were taken up in the churches of New York to enable 
the Michigan Hollanders to build a saw-mill. Not 
only did Easterners not recommend to him the Dutch 
settlement of Michigan, but a friend who had jour- 
neyed from Wisconsin to see Micliigan with his own 
eyes wrote to Scholte at Albany, alleging that he had 
been so unfavorably impressed that he returned at 
once to "Wisconsin.^* 

Scholte turned his attention away from the Michi- 
gan colony as a desirable region because it lay too 
far north, because it was destitute of suitable roads 
and sufficient arable land on account of the dense 



THE CHOICE OF A HOME IN IOWA 59 



growth of timber, and lastly because it lay too near 
the Indians and was too far removed from other set- 
tlements of whites. He expressed his conviction that 
the farmers who had spent their lives in the level hay- 
lands and grain-fields of Holland could not accustom 
themselves to the unusual battle with forests nor find 
pleasure in the constant presence of tree stumps in 
their meadows and cultivated fields. As early as 
May, 1847, Scholte had convinced himself that Iowa 
or a part of Illinois would be most suitable, but he 
judged ''that a good locality is recommended by tell- 
ing not what people may do there but what they have 
done and are doing".^^ 

In coming to the conclusion that his colleague's 
site for a colony was ill-advised, Scholte assured the 
people that he did not wish to detract from the re- 
ports concerning the fertility of the soil in Michigan, 
nor from the value of the timber land, nor ''from the 
pleasure of hearing the warble of birds in the cool 
shade of virgin forests"; but he had experienced 
enough of real life to know that stumps of trees were 
disagreeable obstacles to farmers. Besides, he felt 
certain "that the Hollanders who were coming to 
North America were more prosaic than poetic and 
consequently thought not so much of pleasing their 
eyes and ears as of buying suitable land for farms, 
the easier to cultivate, the better." He knew per- 
fectly well that the farmers who made up the major- 
ity of his association were eager to own pastures for 
dairy purposes, to use plow and harrow on the soil, 
and not at all inclined "to prefer ax to spade or to 



60 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

become dealers in wood." And in answer to van 
Raalte's favorable report on the healthfulness of 
Michigan, Scholte averred that while he was read- 
ing some newspaper testimonials at New York adver- 
tising a certain kind of pills he came across a letter 
from the Michigan colony praising the pills and or- 
dering more, and he thereby became "convinced that 
people there as everywhere else in the world had to 
wrestle with indisposition and disease!" ^® 

The rumor of the coming of so many well-to-do 
Hollanders preceded Scholte, and no sooner had he 
reached America than he was stormed from all sides 
with offers of land so alluring that he was not sur- 
prised, he said, if unsuspecting foreigners fell into 
the snares prepared by speculators. But Scholte 
was not to be tricked into jeopardizing the future 
peace and happiness of his followers. Consequently 
he went to the trouble of investigating as carefully 
as possible all the opportunities offered by various 
States. By means of letters of recommendation 
given him by the American consul in Holland and 
with the help of influential friends he was enabled to 
get abundant and reliable information. At "Washing- 
ton the government officials surprised him by their 
civility and general willingness to serve: they not 
only answered his questions, but "all free of cost" 
presented him with printed documents and later sent 
him a set of maps showing the location of saleable 
government lands. 

Scholte declared that while he was gathering in- 
formation in the older States he frequently heard the 



THE CHOICE OF A HOME IN IOWA 61 

remark that it would be extremely difficult to find 
unoccupied lands for his people unless they were 
willing to be cut off from intercourse with all human 
beings except the Indians. He judged that the at- 
tention which they had directed toward the western 
States as a result of previous investigations con- 
ducted in Holland was excellent evidence of God's 
guidance." 

Not until the whole association had reached St. 
Louis was the last step taken to decide where the 
Hollanders should build their homes : a committee of 
investigation, consisting of Scholte, Isaac Overkamp, 
John Eietveld, Teunis Keppel, and Gerrit van der 
Pol, set out from St. Louis to select a suitable site 
for the settlement. There were extensive areas still 
open to occupation in the States of Iowa and Illi- 
nois, but they were so far removed from wood and 
water as to be quite ill adapted to foreigners unac- 
customed to American pioneer ways. The committee 
of ''spies", however, resolved to examine the Iowa 
lands first, and in case good lands were not available 
there to visit northern Illinois.^^ 

The nearest saleable lands in southeastern Iowa 
lay in what was called ''The Half-Breed Tract", es- 
tablished in 1824 by the United States government in 
Lee County for the half-breeds of the Sac and Fox 
Indians and later sold by them to other persons. 
Scholte had already conferred with the leading men 
of a New York land company which owned a large 
portion of this tract, with the result that he had be- 
come suspicious of their title. Accordingly, after 



62 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

making a close examination of the state of land titles, 
the committee was convinced that most of the pos- 
sessors were not owners and that a purchase from 
them would only expose the Hollanders to the un- 
pleasantness of law-suits.^^ 

The committee thereupon resorted to the United 
States Land Office at Fairfield, Iowa, where unsold 
government lands could still be bought or *' preempt- 
ed" at $1.25 per acre. Scholte presented a letter of 
introduction to Ver Planck van Antwerp, a Knicker- 
bocker who happened to be tlie government Receiver 
at the Fairfield office. Mr. van Antwerp showed the 
committee of Hollanders maps of Iowa indicating- 
unsold lands. He also informed them that the best 
areas had already been occupied and that, although 
many of the first settlers had not yet paid the gov- 
ernment, they were nevertheless protected in their 
rights because they had worked to bring their claims 
under cultivation.^" 

Scholte once more exhibited his qualities of lead- 
ership when he persuaded the members of the com- 
mittee that instead of buying the land of settlers who 
had clear titles and who would, therefore, be loath to 
sell their farms except at very high prices, the Hol- 
landers should buy out the pioneers who had not yet 
secured clear titles to their claims. As Scholte had 
once before expressed it, "a good locality is recom- 
mended by telling not what people may do there, but 
what they have done and are doing". 

While the other committeemen went to inspect 
the country around Fairfield and gain all possible 



THE CHOICE OF A HOME IN IOWA 63 

information from the inhabitants, Scholte busied 
himself with maps in the Land Office. Incidentally 
he applied to Mr. van Antwerp to recommend a 
guide — some man who had dealt with American pio- 
neers in the neighborhood and was therefore ac- 
quainted with them. Shortly afterward, while at- 
tending a child's funeral, Scholte met a Presbyterian 
minister, through whom he came to know a Baptist 
who had been engaged for nearly six years as a mis- 
sionary preacher or circuit rider among the pioneers 
of southwestern Iowa. This man was Rev. M. J. 
Post. 

When he learned who Scholte was and what he 
wanted, Mr. Post at once recommended two localities 
in Iowa as suitable for the proposed Dutch colony, 
and consented to act as a guide for the committee. 
On July 29, 1847, before any rumor of their plan 
could precede them, the committee and guide drove 
across country from Fairfield a distance of nearly 
seventy miles to the northeastern corner of Marion 
County. Scholte later gave the following report of 
the committee's operations : 

We began straightway [on Thursday] with the man at 
whose house we had dinner at noon, and with him agreed 
upon the price of his farm, reserving the right to give him 
a definite answer not later than one o'clock Saturday, be- 
cause we wanted to be assured of the other farms first. He 
gave us a short list of the various settlers, and by constant 
riding before darkness set in we had every farmer's promise 
to sell at a stipulated price. Some whom we did not well 
trust were bound by cash payments in the presence of wit- 



64 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

nesses. Our work, however, was now but half done, for 
we had to have access to the Des INEoines River also. Early- 
Friday morning we rode thither ; there too the settlers sus- 
pected nothing, and after coming to terms with each one 
separately by evening we had bound them all till Monday. 
Saturday we appeared at the appointed time and place, 
when wa-itten contracts to be executed within one month's 
time were signed by them as sellers and by me as pur- 
chaser. . . . 

On Sunday I heard two excellent sermons by our guide 
and agent; on Monday we signed contracts with settlers 
near the river; and on Tuesday we commenced our journey 
back to St. Louis, to convey to the membere of our Associa- 
tion the glad tidings that we had found a good place for 
our homes, and to make preparations for the departure of 
a first column.^^ 



IX 

THE ARRIVAL OF THE HOLLANDERS IN 
IOWA 

On July 4, 1846, an Iowa author of note gave expres- 
sion to the following thought : "Here we behold the 
emigrant crossing the majestic river with the bible, 
the axe, and the plough — emblems of peace, pros- 
perity and power. You may point me to Caesar, to 
the armies of Alexander and Napoleon, triumphant 
with the laurels of victory; yet history never pre- 
sented a spectacle half so sublime as the long train 
of mo\dng emigrants, going forth to consecrate the 
pathless prairie to freedom and a lofty civiliza- 
tion."^- The man who penned these words was 
thinking only of the trains of covered wagons which 
bore emigrants from Ohio, Indiana, and the States 
farther east. He made no reference to the fact that 
at that very time Europeans were crossing the ocean 
to try their fortunes in the western country. 

No sooner had the five committeemen reported 
their work to the expectant Hollanders at St. Louis 
than amid general rejoicing they prepared to journey 
northward. All were eager to reach the end of their 
tedious travels — all were ready to establish perma- 
nent homes upon American soil in a neighborhood 
which they could henceforth call their own. But 

65 



66 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

impatience did not overwhelm their discretion. In- 
asmuch as nearly nine hundred persons would find it 
very difficult to subsist in an almost wholly unpeopled 
country and since very many of them were engaged 
in profitable labor at St. Louis, it was deemed most 
advisable that only the larger part of the emigrant 
band should go ahead and prepare for the coming of 
those who were left behind. 

Some five or six hundred of the entire body of 
Hollanders, therefore, bade good-bye to their coun- 
trymen and to the Americans who had helped them 
during their enforced sojourn in St. Louis. They 
took passage on a Mississippi River steamboat and 
within two days reached Keokuk, the ''Gate City of 
Iowa ' '. Here they were met by a large concourse of 
curious persons — some attracted by the rumor of 
the coming of so many foreigners and others actuated 
by a keen desire to supply possible needs at extor- 
tionate prices. Here also the Hollanders performed 
the sad duty of burying the bodies of three of their 
number who had died since leaving St. Louis. 

Shortly after their arrival at Keokuk the immi- 
grants were greeted with a deluge of rain which very 
perceptibly dampened their ardor and delayed their 
preparations; but after a number of the party had 
purchased horses and wagons and other things neces- 
sary for the journey, bag and baggage were loaded 
upon the great rumbling wagons of that pioneer day, 
and then commenced the final lap of a long and 
wearisome journey half-way across the continent. 



M 



ARRIVAL OF THE HOLLANDERS IN IOWA 67 



Some of the little army of invasion rode, while 
others were obliged to be content with walking.^^ 

As they journeyed from the highly romantic po- 
sition of Keokuk at the foot of the rapids of the 
Mississippi River up one of the richest valleys of the 
West and along the ridge road on the divide between 
two heavily timbered rivers, the Hollanders beheld a 
beautiful stretch of green country, the haunt of In- 
dians but fifteen years before and a part of which 
had been occupied by settlers for only three or four 
years. 

As these emigrants from Holland traversed Ma- 
haska County just before reaching the site of their 
future colony, they were observed with interest by a 
pioneer woman who has preserved the following pic- 
ture of them: 

And when they came along the road with various kinds 
of teams, we gazed in wonder at their quaint and unfamiliar 
appearance. Their dress was strange to us. Women were 
perched on high piles of queer looking chests and boxes and 
trunks, many of them wearing caps, but no bonnets. Some 
of the men, and women too, wore wooden shoes.*'* 

At last they halted upon the site selected by the 
committee, being followed a little later by the wagon 
train of baggage. This was late in the month of 
August, 1847. Great must have been their disap- 
pointment to find that only a pile of boards and two 
poor log-houses marked the spot where they were 
now to settle. The contract which Scholte had pre- 
viously made with certain Americans for the con- 
struction of fifty log cabins and for the delivery of a 



68 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

certain amount of lumber before the association ar- 
rived from St. Louis had not been carried out at alL 

To a people fresh from the older civilization of 
Europe, the entire absence of satisfactory accommo- 
dations and conveniences must have been especially 
disheartening. To be sure many of them had been 
accustomed to rural life in Holland, but that life 
represented a continuity of development since the 
early years of the Christian era. They had left a 
soil which had been subjected to cultivation for near- 
ly two thousand years, and they had lived in houses 
which though small were at least comfortable. Now 
they were to learn what it was to grow up with a new 
country — what it meant to conquer a wilderness. 

"Imagine a number of bakers, tailors and shoe- 
makers, painters, office-clerks, business managers 
and such like, who had all their lives been used to the 
city life of Europe — some of whom hardly knew 
what a cow or pig looked like, nor had the slightest 
knowledge of farm implements; who had left neat 
and comfortable homes and had never known or seen 
others — imagine such people suddenly transplanted 
to an open prairie, with here and there some timber, 
seeing nothing but grass, trees and sky, and finding 
no protection against the elements!" And the 
Dutch historian added : ''It takes but a few lines to 
tell it, but to live it is something wholly different. ' ' 

It was indeed a unique experience for these Hol- 
landers to come from a foreign land, where they had 
spent their lives closely confined in cities and towns 
and on small well-kept farms, to the solitude and iso- 



ARRIVAL OF THE HOLLANDERS IN IOWA 69 

lation of life upon the American frontier. They had 
now arrived upon the boundless expanse of the prai- 
ries of Iowa to partake of all the hardships incident 
to the struggle with a new and strange environment. 
But if in that summer of 1847 the Hollanders in- 
dulged in no spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm, it 
was because they could not realize the tremendous 
latent possibilities of a region which was destined to 
be transformed into one of the garden spots of Iowa. 
If the face of nature, as they saw it then, presented 
none of the features characteristic of their trans- 
atlantic fatherland's peasant and urban life, it did 
not lack the qualities necessary to provide ambitious 
Europeans with all the material advantages of life. 
Among the Hollanders who were now to begin years 
of struggle in Iowa were people ''who had the habits 
and preferences of a well-ordered life in cities of 
habitation, where the current of existence was tran- 
quil and regular except when disturbed by the storms 
of war or religious persecution", while others "were 
for the most part peaceable farmers, whose ideal of 
earthly felicity was the well-filled barn and the com- 
fortable fire-side. ' ' '" 



MARION COUNTY AND ITS FARMS IN 1847 

The Hollanders found that the claims and govern- 
ment lands which their leader, Scholte, had pur- 
chased lay in the northeastern corner of Marion 
County in Jefferson and Lake Prairie townships. 
From the highest point they beheld a vast expanse of 
undulating prairie covered with long wiry grass and 
wild flowers, dotted here and there with little groves 
of native timber, sloping gently toward the dark and 
heavily timbered valleys of two large rivers, the 
Skunk and the Des Moines, which flowed southeast- 
ward and parallel about ten miles apart. Under a 
clear slry the landscape extended for many miles in 
every direction. Then too were visible some of the 
crude log cabins and other little buildings of the 
widely-scattered homesteads of American pioneers, 
and small fields of Indian corn and other grain en- 
closed in the picturesque, zigzag rail fences of that 
primitive day.*"' 

Marion Count}' lay in a vast stretch of comitry 
which had been ceded by the Indians to the United 
States government in 1842. This immense area, 
known as ' ' The New Purchase ' ', was not thrown open 
to homeseekers until May 1, 1843, after the Indians 
had in silence once more vanished further to the 

70 



MARION COUNTY AND ITS FARMS IN 1847 71 

westward. On the lOtli of June, 1845, Marion Coun- 
ty was established ; and though it constituted one of 
the fairest portions of the Territory of Iowa in 
April, 1846, it could claim a population of not more 
than fifteen hundred souls. Its only considerable 
town was Knoxville, the seat of justice.''^ 

In 1847 Iowa City was the State capital, while 
Fort Des Moines, the future seat of government, had 
but recently been evacuated by United States Dra- 
goons. The Hollanders had come, therefore, to live 
upon the outskirts of civilization at a time when the 
vanguard of hardy pioneers advancing to conquer 
the great American West had just reached and occu- 
pied the central portion of the State of lowa.^^ 

Here upon the western American frontier Scholte 
secured the title to eighteen thousand acres of excel- 
lent land, a very small part of which consisted of 
the scattered farms of the original settlers, and the 
remainder of government land, much of which was 
covered by warrants issued to veterans of the Mexi- 
can War as remuneration or reward for military 
service. A wealthy citizen of Keokuk aided Scholte 
in buying up these land-warrants for one hundred 
and sixty acres at from $80 to $100 apiece. Other 
government land was purchased at $1.25 per acre.°^ 

When Scholte and his colleagues visited Marion 
County to investigate its possibilities, they had only 
limited authority from the association and insuffi- 
cient association funds. Scholte, however, did not 
hesitate to act upon his own responsibility. He pur- 
chased not only government lands and the farms, but 



72 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

also crops, stock, and other personal property, being 
glad to supply from his own purse the necessary 
money for that purpose because he perceived "the 
excellent quality and exceptional fertility of the soil 
and the facility of cultivation "/° 

Scholte took precautions to make his payments 
of money directly to the United States government 
in order to be assured of the title to the claims. Thus 
he insured himself against deceitful speculators. Of 
course he paid the original settlers, who numbered 
about thirty, what they demanded as a reasonable 
return for their improvements on the land. From 
the amount of purchase-money and the government 
price he was able to calculate how much the land 
would cost per acre and what each subscriber's share 
would be. Lots were drawn to fix the order of land- 
owners and the numbers of the sections to which 
each owner was to be assigned, whereupon a sur- 
veyor could proceed to measure oft' the areas for 
which the members of the association had subscribed 
in Holland." Such were some of the steps prelim- 
inary to the realization of Dutch community life in 
Iowa. 



I 



XI 

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DUTCH 
COMMUNITY 

Neaely six hundred foreigners in an unsettled conn- 
try must have presented a scene of great bustle and 
industry in the late summer and autumn of 1847. 
First of all they had to provide immediate shelter 
of some sort; and then they proceeded to erect more 
permanent, substantial dwellings as a necessary pro- 
tection against the rigors of an approaching Iowa 
winter. Of the inadequate quantity of lumber which 
they found they constructed simple sheds which af- 
forded cover to many families. Other families were 
housed in the log cabins and other buildings of the 
American settlers who vacated their homesteads as 
quickly as possible. But a majority of the immi- 
grants commenced house-keeping in this wild land 
much after the manner of primitive people. 

Shortly after their arrival on September 2, 1847, 
the Hollanders engaged a surveyor to lay out eight 
blocks of a new town. Later more space was added ; 
and for many years the streets and the avenues bore 
the names which Scholte gave them. The streets 
were called Extension, Addition, Columbus, Wash- 
ington, Franklin, Liberty, Union, Independence, 
Peace, South End, University, and Oskaloosa; while 

73 



74 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

the avenues were Entrance, Inquiring, Perseverance, 
Reformation, Gratitude, Experience, Patience, Con- 
fidence, Expectation, and Accomplishment. In Hol- 
land it appears that Scholte had prayed that God 
would "prepare for His people another PELLA, 
and let the motto of its inhabitants be in truth : In 
God is our hope and refuge. In Deo Spes Nostra et 
Ref ugium. ' ' 

Pella was platted in order that all persons who 
wished might build houses at once.^- Despite the 
lack of sufficient ready lumber, the first Dutch city- 
builders in Iowa showed their practical, workday 
character by using whatever materials nature fur- 
nished close at hand. They received an early visit 
from an Iowa tourist who had lectured with success 
in various parts of England. This gentleman no- 
ticed that "the men in blanket coats and jeans were 
gone", and that a race of broad-shouldered men "in 
velvet jackets and wooden shoes" was there, "re- 
joicing in the antiquitj'' of nearly a month." He saw 
most of them living "in camps, the tops covered with 
tent cloth, some with grass and bushes, the sides 
barricaded with countless numbers of trunks, boxes 
and chests of the oddest and most grotesque descrip- 
tion that Yankees or Hawkeyes ever beheld." " 

The Hollanders, however, were not satisfied with 
dwellings so crude, so characteristic of a lower stage 
of civilization, like Indian tepees. They quickly 
constructed "dug-outs" or "sod-houses" — so-called 
because their interior lay partly below and partly 
above the surface of the ground. Earth was removed 



ESTABLISHMENT OF DUTCH COMMUNITY 75 

to the depth of a few feet, and blocks of tough prairie 
sod several inches thick were then piled up to com- 
plete the upper portion of the walls. Roofs con- 
sisted simply of branches covered with prairie or 
slough grass, straw or reeds ; while doors of sack- 
cloth and interwoven twigs, and chimneys built of 
sod blocks completed the sombre exterior of what 
came to be called "Strooijen Stad" (Straw Town). 

Despite the appearance of these early homes, 
which indicated a partial but compulsory reversion 
to a more primitive state of nature, these sod houses 
in many cases served as human habitations for near- 
ly two years. As makeshifts against exposure to 
all sorts of wintry weather, these inelegant quarters 
stood until their occupants were better able to erect 
more sanitary and substantial houses ; and although 
never entirely water-proof, they provided a consid- 
erable measure of comfort and satisfaction, partly 
due no doubt to the mildness of the first Iowa win- 
ter.^* 

Later on, as lumber became more plentiful, frame 
buildings, both cabins and barns, gradually sup- 
planted the temporary, unsanitary shacks and hovels. 
Like true American backwoodsmen, the Hollanders 
quickly learned to thank their rivers for the incal- 
culable advantage of forests of fine hard-wood trees. 
They found that their settlement embraced a quan- 
tity of excellent timber sufficient to supply all needs. 
But during the early months and years the supply 
of lumber to be obtained from American-owned saw- 
mills on the Des Moines River was so limited and 



76 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

the demand so great that Scholte availed himself of 
the water-power of the Skunk River, installed ma- 
chinery in a mill of his own, and thus early in 1848 
began to manufacture lumber for the Dutch colony." 

In 1856 the growing city of Pella, beautiful- 
ly situated on a high and spacious prairie plateau, 
presented a pleasing view with its rows of simple, 
wooden houses, interspersed with a few red brick 
dwellings. Hollanders in the fatherland during the 
nineteenth century were accustomed to living in 
brick houses; they shrugged their shoulders and 
pitied those Americans who were forced to live in 
flimsy, wooden structures; but inhabitants of Pella 
declared that they needed no pity because they had 
learned to find a combination of comfort, conveni- 
ence, and even beauty in these neat, little dwellings, 
which were in many respects so desirable that as "to 
style and general taste they did not need to bow 
before the low brick cottages of Europe. ' ' ^® 

Although the city of Pella grew and developed 
like any other frontier town of the early days, city- 
building by the Hollanders was not the primary ob- 
ject of their coming to Iowa. Most of the people 
were farmers, and even those who had never tilled 
the soil found such abundant opportunity to become 
farmers that from the beginning the Dutch colony 
of Marion County was distinctively an agricultural 
community. It is true, as someone has said, that 
"a new land offered the opportunity, a wild land 
presented the necessity, a rich land held out the 
reward, to men who were eager to do something." 



ESTABLISHMENT OF DUTCH COMMUNITY 77 

That farming was the first thing to come into notice 
among the Hollanders as furnishing the best and 
surest prospects was a matter of course. One man 
after another, upon getting possession of land, ''as 
quickly as possible harnessed all his united strength 
to make the earth yield up her rich treasures." ^^ 

Families of Hollanders entered the homesteads 
vacated by their first American occupants and at 
once set about to care for the stock and crops. There 
was abundant work for all hands to do. Besides the 
building of cabins and barns, the newcomers busied 
themselves with general farm duties. They soon dis- 
covered the truth of the general American newspaper 
report that they had settled in one of the best parts 
of Iowa: they found a soil suitable for the growth 
of all kinds of products when once the tough prairie 
sod was broken. On the farms which Scholte had 
bought grew excellent summer and winter wheat, 
oats, buckwheat, flax, hemp, and Indian corn, as well 
as vegetables of fine quality. In the timber grew 
wild fruits in profusion.^^ 

For the live-stock, which American pioneers cus- 
tomarily allowed to roam loose upon the open prairie 
and in the timber summer and winter, the Holland- 
ers provided some sort of shelter. They were es- 
pecially pleased with the rich milk of the American 
cows ; and they early convinced themselves that they 
could produce butter and cheese which not only com- 
pared favorably with the best in Holland, but also 
promised to be of incalculable value to them because 
the butter and cheese of their American neighbors 



78 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

were quite generally bad and sometimes unfit for con- 
sumption. Indeed, the making of butter and cheese 
became a considerable industry during the early 
years, and ''Iowa Cheese" became famous in the 
St. Louis market, commanding the highest price. 
Not only was dairy-farming a popular occupation 
from the start because the Hollanders had brought 
all the secrets with them from Europe, but stock- 
raising also became profitable in the course of time. 
Especially did the foreigners learn the value of one 
of America's staple products, the hog, which they 
had always looked upon as a comparative curiosity 
in Europe and now came to regard as an asset char- 
acteristic and typical of western farm-life. Indeed, 
early Iowa pioneers allowed their hogs to run loose 
in the woods, thus foraging for themselves and re- 
quiring no attention until they were ready to be 
fattened when Indian corn was so abundant that they 
could be quickl}^ prepared for market and sold in 
the shape of ham, bacon, and lard.^^ 

Most difficult for the Hollanders was the task of 
learning to accustom themselves to the demands of 
frontier life. Transplanted from Europe to the west- 
ernmost point reached by American home-seekers, 
dwelling upon that ' * irregular, imaginary line which 
separated their farm lands and the unused West", 
they suffered more than Americans who lived under 
similar circumstances. They missed the ordinary 
household comforts of Holland and many of the ne- 
cessities of life, but from the experience of early 
years they learned to imitate their American pioneer 



ESTABLISHMENT OF DUTCH COMMUNITY 79 

neighbors. Slowly they adapted themselves to their 
strange environment and a wholly different standard 
of living; and they soon realized that the problem 
for them to solve was how to become self-sufficient 
when their supply of Dutch money gave out. 

The Hollanders were not long in discovering that 
the articles which they had been accustomed to buy 
ready-made in Holland were manufactured by Amer- 
ican frontiersmen from the products of the soil — 
as for instance bread and other food-stuifs, candles, 
and woolen and linen cloth for home-made clothing. 
In the absence of plows some used spades at first and 
waited patiently until they could obtain such agri- 
cultural implements as plows, harrows, and wagons 
from their Pella blacksmiths who worked night and 
day; and even then many lacked money enough to 
purchase the necessary horses or oxen and machin- 
ery. It was therefore a difficult problem to make 
progress without ready money. 

Scholte observed that American pioneers got 
along without much money: "Only when they get 
money into their hands by selling their claims do 
they begin to buy, and in that event they are general- 
ly liberal in giving or paying. The American people 
in general understand how to make money, as is well 
known, but they also have the inclination to be gen- 
erous in giving it away. That parsimony which is 
sometimes called stinginess is not a reigning evil 
with them. They do not turn over a dime four times, 
as the saying goes in Holland, before spending it, 



80 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

and therefore they get rid of money more quickly, 
oftentimes too quickly for some Hollanders." ^° 

Great must have been the awe with which Iowa's 
first Dutch settlers regarded that picturesque, no- 
madic element of the American frontier population, 
the backwoodsman, who could generally be found 
upon the crest of the human wave which filled the 
empty places of the West. These adventurers pre- 
ceded the rush of emigrants westward, staked out 
their claims, hunted and fished, cleared and worked 
some acres of soil for a year or two until the coming 
of others to their neighborhood. Then, to escape 
the pressure of advancing emigration, they sold their 
clearings at a profit, packed their simple belongings 
into heavy, canvas-covered wagons drawn by horses 
or oxen, and from pure love of freedom proceeded 
farther westward to resume their life in the woods 
or on the plains.*^ 

Scholte, leader of the Dutch immigrants in every 
branch of activity, set up a lime-kiln and a brick-kiln 
at an early date, thus furnishing labor to masons. 
Bakers, tailors, shoemakers, painters, office clerks, 
business managers, and others — all were represent- 
ed ill the Pella population, but most of them found 
their trades and occupations superfiuous among peo- 
ple of simple tastes. Hence they adapted them- 
selves to the situation by learning to till the soil as 
a means of support. But ''the hands of many who 
were city bred and skilled in everything but agricul- 
ture went wrong when it became a question of making 
a living on the naked prairie." 



ESTABLISHMENT OF DUTCH COMMUNITY 81 

In the month of March, 1848, Scholte wrote as 
follows : 

The ordinary day's wages is fifty cents for the laborer, 
one dollar for the artisan. In general the Hollanders know 
very well how to receive American wages; some are not 
ready to acquire the American habit, that is, to work fast. 
A few, who do not care for work and imagine that people 
can get a living in America without exertion, find them- 
selves badly deceived, since here too God's universally es- 
tablished rule applies : In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou 
eat thy bread. 

Four men returned from here to St. Louis, men of whose 
wrong principles people here are generally convinced. Two 
of them, after gadding about for some time and molesting 
the colony, ended by entering military service in Mexico. 
A few other persons, who seem to have thought that by 
means of a magic wand one could cause suitable houses to 
rise up out of the ground just as in fairy tales, complained 
of the hardships, as the people of The Netherlands may 
have noticed in their newspapers; but these have already 
expressed their grief for being so obstinate, and now enter- 
tain opposite opinions. Some now own land and stock, but 
their quantity of money has diminished so that they shall 
have to learn for the first time how to succeed in the Ameri- 
can way, that is, to do much with little money : whether this 
art can be learned quickly and well, the future will tell.^- 

Unacqiiainted with the language, pioneer condi- 
tions, and ways of America, the first Dutch settlers 
of Iowa plodded along with the grim determination 
and patience characteristic of their nation, and grad- 
ually but painfully submitted to frontier American- 
ization. 



XII 

YEARS OF PRIVATION AND SUBSEQUENT 
RELIEF 

During the first four years of their history in Iowa 
the Hollanders underwent many novel experiences, 
but nothing more disastrous than the winter of 
1848-49. Unfamiliar with the extraordinary ex- 
tremes of Iowa weather, they had deceived them- 
selves into believing that the mild winter of 1847-48 
was the rule and not the exception. They had con- 
tinued to work outdoors with bare hands, and had 
paid little attention to their live-stock which ran 
loose in the woods and on the prairies. 

In the spring of 1848 they had been introduced 
to a genuine Iowa windstorm with its attendant havoc 
and destruction : buildings in course of construction 
were razed to the ground. Thus began their ac- 
quaintance with storms of cyclonic severity. After 
passing a favorable summer and reaping a harvest 
sufficient to supply the colony's needs, without 
having taken precautions to provide food and shelter 
for their stock, they suddenly found themselves in 
the midst of a winter such as few lowans have 
ever endured before or since. From November 
in 1848 to May in 1849 snow covered the ground at 
an average depth of three feet, and for weeks the 
temperature remained twenty degrees below zero. 

82 



PRIVATION AND SUBSEQUENT RELIEF 83 

Unprepared for this intense cold, Dutch farmers 
lost much live-stock and with the utmost difficulty 
husked a small quantity of their snow-covered crop 
of Indian corn. Fuel was scarce and difficult to 
obtain, while journeys to the mill were tedious and 
burdensome. Then in the spring of 1849, to aggra- 
vate the winter's disastrous losses, came the flooded 
rivers and miry sloughs from which half-famished 
animals were too weak to extricate themselves.'*^ 

Financially the Hollanders were on the whole 
practically destitute in 1849. Even those who had 
pursued farming with good results considered them- 
selves poor in the midst of plenty, because they 
lacked a convenient market for their surplus pro- 
ducts. So great was their discouragement that 
many thought seriously of giving up and seeking a 
more satisfactory location. Then relief came in two 
unexpected ways. 

During the year 1849 about two hundred and fifty 
Hollanders came fresh from Europe to seek homes 
in Pel I a. Many of them were members of the asso- 
ciation organized in Holland in 1846, and it is said 
that their hearts were in Pell a after Scholte and the 
eight hundred found land for the colony. Very many 
of them were well-to-do, and some at once bought out 
American pioneers who had refused to sell their 
farms to the first Dutch settlers. The arrival of so 
large a body of newcomers meant the consumption 
of surplus products and this in turn brought money 
into circulation. Many adopted and stimulated bus- 



84 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

iness life in Pella, paid cash for what they bought, 
and also made loans to the needy. 

If the coming of so many Hollanders helped to 
infuse new spirit into the Pella community, even 
more of a godsend was the mad scramble of Ameri- 
cans westward to reach the California gold fields, 
reports of the finding of which spread like wild-fire 
in the autumn of 1848. In the spring of 1849 com- 
menced the rush of Easterners, which proved to be 
a veritable "El Dorado" for the Hollanders of Mar- 
ion County. For a period of three months cov- 
ered wagons rumbled ceaselessly through Pella, and 
though the gold fever soon subsided, for a number 
of years a steady stream of emigrants continued to 
flow through Pella, some in search of gold in Cali- 
fornia and Colorado, others, like the Mormons, to 
build homes in Oregon and Utah. 

An eye-witness, a Hollander, thus described the 
''call of the West and the lust for gold" as evinced 
by the caravans which came from the East by the 
road through Pella: 

They came in all sorts of ways. Many wagons were 
drawn by six, eight or ten yoke of oxen. Some were drawn 
by cows; most people had two teams of horses or mules 
hitched to their decorated covered wagons, which were gen- 
erally provided with stoves, and no one lacked fire-arms ex- 
cept the man who undertook the journey with a Avheel- 
barrow whereon he bore his supplies. If we had not seen 
it with our own eyes, we should have doubted the truth of 
this. He had his place in the long train of wagons and 
made way for no one. "We noticed later that the wheel- 



PRIVATION AND SUBSEQUENT RELIEF 85 

barrow man arrived in California. The train of wagons 
was many times so long-drawn out as to fill the entire street 
from east to west. The number of well-behaved persons 
among the trekkers was very small ; most of them were 
coarse and disorderly. 

Those who remained on their Iowa farms and 
furnished the fortune-hunters with necessary food 
and other articles gained immense profit from the 
thirst for gold. One Dutch farmer who lived upon 
the Iowa route declared : 

We sold the trekkers to California all we had, and 
bought up more from our neighbors who lived farther from 
the road. "We sold a bushel of corn for one dollar, a bushel of 
oats for one dollar, a bushel of wheat for one dollar, 100 
pounds of hay for one dollar, everything for one dollar: 
that was easy to remember. A yoke of oxen brought from 
$50 to $55 ; a cow from $20 to $25. The trekkers, however, 
could stand it. Some had cooks and negro servants. A 
man from Davenport came with 350 head of cattle. He had 
two more herds of the same size, altogether 1,000 head, on 
the way.^* 

Thus it will be seen how marvelous was the influ- 
ence of newcomers from Holland and of ''forty- 
niners" from eastern States. The former came to 
begin life anew, and providing for their various 
needs revived the zeal and industry of the Dutch set- 
tlers who had struggled hard for over a year in town 
and country. Gold-seekers left much money among 
the Hollanders who did not hesitate to charge them 
what were extortionate prices for that day. 



XIII 

HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 

One of the principal drawbacks, if not the great- 
est, of early frontier life in central Iowa was the 
absence of convenient markets and suitable means 
of exporting farm products or importing articles for 
farm and liousehold use. Neither railroads nor 
steamboats had yet reached Marion County. 

The only agency of regular communication with 
the outer world at first was a United States post- 
route and post-office. When the Hollanders arrived 
upon their newly-purchased lands, the American set- 
tlers were accustomed to get mail at an office on the 
Des Moines River, but when the postmaster sold his 
farm to Scholte, his office came to an end. "Recog- 
nizing the need of a post-office," wrote Scholte, "with 
the other members of our Council I wrote at once to 
Washington requesting, with an assignment of rea- 
sons, that the old office and route be removed to Pel- 
la, at the same time recommending a competent per- 
son for the postmastership. We received a speedy 
and favorable reply and the necessary authoriza- 
tion." The Hollanders were thus enabled to obtain 
mail twice a week from the eastern States and from 
relatives in The Netherlands. They also received 
assurance that another post-route to the county seat 

86 



HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 87 

would be relocated in such a way as to pass through 
Pella.^' 

But in the matter of establishing commercial and 
trade relations with such distant markets as Keokuk 
and St. Louis the Hollanders, like most other lowans, 
experienced no little inconvenience. To be sure, 
their agricultural products found ready consumers 
in the increasing population of their neighborhood — 
a cause which continued to afford a market at every 
man's door for two or three years. But when they 
had surplus products, such as grain and pork, or if 
they had money and desired to raise their standard 
of living, they needed access to larger markets. 

The city of Keokuk, one hundred and twenty 
miles away, situated at the foot of the Des Moines 
rapids of the Mississippi River, had become one of 
Iowa's most considerable ports and places of busi- 
ness. Steamboats for the transportation of passen- 
gers and merchandise plied regularly in large num- 
bers between New Orleans, St. Louis, and Keokuk, 
where goods destined for points farther north had 
to be unloaded and conveyed over the rapids in light 
keel-boats. 

In the early development of the vast resources of 
Iowa the Mississippi River came to be the most im- 
portant agent. As the main avenue of trade, it 
placed the pioneers of Iowa in direct touch with the 
markets of the world. Grocery supplies, farm im- 
plements, mill machinery, dry goods, and hardware 
were shipped by sea from New York City to New 



88 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Orleans and northward, or by the Ohio Eiver route 
to St. Louis, and thence to the Iowa country. 

The most reliable means of communication be- 
tween Keokuk, the ''Gate City of Iowa", and Pella 
was the State Road — an excellent highway running 
along the ridge between the valleys of two rivers. 
In 1848 this road was extended by law to include the 
nearest and most direct route to Fort Des Moines. 
And until about the year 1865 this thoroughfare was 
used for the transportation of Pella products to 
Keokuk and St. Louis and of manufactured goods to 
Pella. As a means by which merchandise could be 
received and produce exported the overland route 
was long and tedious ; at the same time the Holland- 
ers found it better than the roads of Holland, except 
after heavy rains. Under ordinary circumstances 
they paid seventy-five cents per hundred pounds of 
freight, and $1,121/4 per hundred pounds when the 
road was at its worst.^" 

Shortly before the Dutch settled in Marion Coun- 
ty Congress gave ear to the agitation in Iowa in 
favor of the improvement of the Des Moines River. 
Farm products of the Des Moines Valley had in- 
creased to such an extent that some rapid export 
route became absolutely necessary. Accordingly, in 
1846 the government took what at the time promised 
to be one of the most important steps ever taken to 
develop Iowa's resources: all alternate sections of 
land in a strip five miles wide on each side of the 
Des Moines River from its mouth to its source were 
granted as an appropriation to provide for a system 



HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 89 

of slack-water navigation from Keokuk to Fort Des 
Moines." 

One year after Congress made such munificent 
provision for the internal development of Iowa, 
Scholte and his association of Hollanders indulged 
in the expectation that, since one-half of the distance 
to be made navigable had been surveyed and the sites 
for dams and locks had been selected, the expense of 
transportation to and from Pella in the future would 
be greatly lessened and the means of transportation 
would be facilitated. 

Hardly had the town of Pella been platted when 
Scholte was requested by his American neighbors to 
lay out another town to be called Amsterdam. To 
this request he assented by selecting some land on 
the banks of the Des Moines River at a point where 
the stream was easily forded, where a dam and lock 
would later be necessary, and where a considerable 
harbor was expected to grow up on account of its 
position half-way between Ottumwa and Fort Des 
Moines. When the river should once be made navi- 
gable for ships and steamboats, this town promised 
to become the port of Pella and vicinity ; ' ' the recol- 
lection of what Holland's Amsterdam once was and 
of what the American Amsterdam (now called New 
York) is coming to be induced us to give this place 
in Iowa the same name, since it was both of Dutch 
origin and also intended for trade." And it was 
also hoped and suggested in 1848 that as soon as 
regular navigation became possible on Iowa's great- 
est river, a small body of water, called Lake Prairie, 



90 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

east of Amsterdam would present unusual opportu- 
nities for the construction of factories run by water- 
power. 

Two years later, in 1850, a store opened at Am- 
sterdam ; many people bought lots and built houses ; 
while two brick-kilns and a lime-kiln made the town 
temporarily of some importance. But in the midst 
of promise came the memorable floods of the spring 
of 1851. A blight settled upon the hopes and pros- 
pects of the promoters of the young city when they 
began to perceive that the improvement of the Des 
Moines River w^as an ideal never to be realized. 
High water at once revealed how stupendous and im- 
practicable was the task of rendering the Des Moines 
River navigable. Furthermore the position of Am- 
sterdam upon the river's banks proved to be un- 
healthful : this fact retarded its growth. Indeed, 
the great Dutch name is no longer on the map of 
Iowa : only corn fields mark the spot where Amster- 
dam was expected to rise.^® 

Although steamboating on the Des Moines River 
continued to appeal to lowans of that day and sev- 
eral boats succeeded in navigating the uncertain 
channel at different times, as a means of transport- 
ing produce to southern markets the river route 
failed dismally to satisfy the needs of the settlers. 
The man who probably ranked next to Scholte as the 
most public-spirited citizen among the early Dutch 
settlers in Iowa was A. E. D. Bousquet. He met 
with serious reverses in his efforts to make the Des 
Moines River a suitable outlet and waterway. In 



HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 91 

the flood year of 1851 he and other Pella merchants 
conceived the idea of shipping great quantities of 
corn down-stream in flat-boats to St. Louis. Their 
venture was only partially and accidentally success- 
ful and their plan was henceforth abandoned as im- 
practicable. 

Two years later Bousquet organized the Des 
Moines Steamboat Company, and again he met with 
disappointment. It was written of him that he 
' * loved the new country in which he had cast his lot ; 
for its prospects seemed golden to his eyes. He had 
considerable means .... and deemed it the 
better part to spend his money in developing the 
country rather than in buying great quantities of 
land and making himself rich by advancing prices 
. . . . 'If I should do this I should be as great 
a curse to my community as the eastern specula- 
tors !' " He also undertook to lay a plank-road from 
Keokuk to Pella, and is said to have completed from 
twenty to twenty-five miles.®® 

Railroad agitation in the years immediately fol- 
lowing Iowa's admission into the Union reached the 
Hollanders of Marion County and led to no little 
speculation among them. They prided themselves 
on the advantageous situation of their colony when 
it became generally known that Pella was to be only 
fifteen or twenty miles southwest of the recently 
chosen site for the State capital. Certain State com- 
missioners had been appointed with authority to se- 
lect a place nearer to the geographical center of the 
State of Iowa than Iowa City then was. 



92 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Inhabitants of the Des Moines Valley had been 
especially interested in the removal of the seat of 
government from Iowa City, and as a consequence 
of the general dissatisfaction and agitation the com- 
missioners caused five sections of land near the 
southern boundary of Jasper County to be surveyed, 
platted into lots, and sold at public auction during 
the latter part of October, 1847. They called the 
new capital Monroe City. The Hollanders, who 
perceived the advantage of living so near, were great- 
ly disappointed when the work of the commissioners 
was later rendered null and void. Wlien the agita- 
tion in favor of relocating the State Capital revived 
the Hollanders themselves for many years petitioned 
the State legislature to locate the seat of govern- 
ment at Pella, Scholte offering to donate land to aid 
in the construction of State buildings. 

After Monroe City had beeu selected as the site 
for the new capital of Iowa, talk of a railway from 
Dubuque to Council Bluffs became more insistent, 
causing the Hollanders to hope and believe that 
Wliitney's proposed railroad across the continent 
would either pass through or at least very near 
Pella. Further hopes were raised when dissatis- 
faction was expressed concerning the situation of 
the county seat at Knoxville, Indeed, many Ameri- 
can settlers urged this as a reason why Scholte should 
lay out the town of Amsterdam, convinced that if the 
matter ever came to a vote the people would un- 
doubtedly select this place as the seat of justice.^" 

Such were some of the hopes and aspirations of 



HOPES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS 93 

the Dutch inhabitants of Iowa during the first five 
years of their residence in the State. In every in- 
stance time revealed that anticipation was more 
pleasant than realization; but despite their disap- 
pointments the Hollanders plodded along and grew 
in strength and numbers. 



XIV 

EARLY PROMOTION OF IMMIGRATION TO '^41 

PELLA 

Most memorable in the history of emigration from 
Holland to America are the years 1846 and 1847 be- 
cause they mark the beginning of an exodus which 
has never abated and which resulted in the founding 
of the prosperous Dutch colonies in Michigan and 
Iowa. Thousands of Hollanders have since found 
homes in all of the north central States. An exami- 
nation of census statistics reveals the fact that in 
1850 there lived in Iowa 1108 foreign-born Holland- 
ers, 2077 in 1856, 2615 in 1860, and 4513 in 1870. 
These figures are by no means surprising; indeed 
they are rather disappointing when compared with 
those for Michigan. The northern State succeeded 
in luring more than twice as many Dutch immigrants 
to her forests as Iowa attracted to her fertile 
prairies during the same period. 

One reason assigned for Michigan's large Hol- 
land-born population is the fact that the families 
which followed van Raalte were for the most part 
poor but ambitious people, and for such it was easier 
to get a start in Michigan than in Iowa. Financially 
the Hollanders of Iowa were better off: Scholte is 
said to have led 'Hhe flower of the Dutch emigra- 

94 



EARLY PROMOTION OF IMMIGRATION 95 

tion of that day". The vast majority of Dutch im- 
migrants were destitute and therefore were com- 
pelled to settle where they could get lands for almost 
nothing. Michigan's boundless timber tracts fur- 
nished the majority of the poor laborers and peas- 
ants with just what they wanted, while Iowa's prairie 
lands in the neighborhood of recent settlements 
were not within reach of their depleted purses.^^ 

Another reason for the extensive settlement of 
Michigan by Hollanders as compared with that of 
Iowa is probably to be found in the nature of the 
two leaders themselves and in the character of what 
may be called their advertising methods. It is a 
noteworthy fact that both men encouraged their fel- 
low-countrjTuen to flee from the Old World and come 
to a land where the honest workman was openly wel- 
comed and easily enabled '*to earn and eat his own 
bread ' '. 

Early in 1847 van Raalte wrote a lengthy letter 
to a friend in Holland describing the colony which 
he had just founded. The letter was printed in the 
form of a pamphlet entitled "Holland in America, 
or The Dutch Colony in the State of Michigan", and 
it was offered for sale to the Dutch public. Van 
Raalte furnished an excellent account of his new 
home, his reasons for selecting timber land, a state- 
ment of general economic conditions in America, and 
he suggested the best routes of travel for prospec- 
tive Dutch settlers. Incidentally he declared that 
trustworthy men had unanimously urged him to go 
to Wisconsin or Michigan rather than to Iowa, 



96 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

where much sickness prevailed owing to an unhealth- 
ful climate. In short, the pamphlet was an excel- 
lent advertisement written in attractive style and 
intended to convey the information which prospec- 
tive emigrants needed.^- 

In March, 1848, Scholte wrote his first letter from 
Pella and had it published in pamphlet form to be 
sold among the people of Holland. He told about 
reading van Raalte's account of the climate of Iowa, 
and went on to say that when he arrived in America 
he obtained an entirely different impression. After 
informing the people of Holland how well he and his 
followers had been received in America he explained 
why he preferred Iowa to Michigan. He asserted 
the claims of Iowa and expressed the brightest hopes 
for the development of his colony in Marion County. 
To Scholte 's credit it may be said that though he 
was aware that attempts were being made in Holland 
to exalt Michigan above Iowa, not by producing sim- 
ple facts but by gi^^ng false colors to affairs and 
conditions, he never undertook to detract from the 
strength of Michigan's appeal, gladly admitting that 
friends who wrote from that State were quite satis- 
fied with their choice. 

As to his own object in publishing letters about 
the Pella settlement Scholte said that he desired to 
give a short but truthful account, neither colored nor 
filled with a description of the wonders of Iowa. 
"Always repelled by exaggerated reports from Amer- 
ica", he wrote, ''I am now all the more opposed to 
them, because I have seen the tragic results of such 



EARLY PROMOTION OF IMMIGRATION 97 

excited writings in the miscalculations and disap- 
pointments of our people upon coming face to face 
with realities. You doubtless must have read many 
letters which revealed a picture more attractive, more 
stimulating to the emotions than mine; but I feel 
obliged to tell the truth, the whole truth, and noth- 
ing but the truth, without giving it a color of my 
own. I shall not invite you to leave Holland and 
come to us : you have to know and to decide that for 
yourselves." 

Scholte wrote his letter of March, 1848, with a 
view to attracting the attention of Holland's wealthy 
Christians. Thousands of oppressed persons wanted 
only the opportunity to make a living, but they 
lacked the means necessary to pay the expense of a 
journey to America. Scholte therefore called upon 
the rich to do their duty — to help the poor by fur- 
nishing the necessary money at reasonable interest, 
and thus enable them to get a foothold on American 
soil. 

In November, 1848, appeared Scholte 's second 
letter from Pella, with contents just as interesting 
and encouraging as those of his first pamphlet. But 
the people of Holland were frankly warned not to be 
unduly influenced by what he wrote: they were 
urged to come of their own accord, upon genuine 
reasonable grounds and without unreasonable antic- 
ipations — for in the latter case they would be dis- 
appointed like certain mischief -making persons who, 
after leaving Pella, had settled in St. Louis and there 



98 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

advised all newcomers from. Holland to go to Miclii- 
gan.^^ 

Scholte chronicled the arrival of many families at 
Pella. They had experienced all sorts of tempta- 
tions and allurements before they finally reached 
Iowa. At New York and other places, such as Buf- 
falo, they met persons who did their utmost to fright- 
en all Hollanders away from Iowa and to lure them 
to Michigan. This policy was pursued not only by 
men directly interested in the Michigan colony, but 
also by the agents of speculators in that State who 
held vast areas of land for sale. These speculators, 
finding themselves unable to sell to Americans, tried 
in every possible way to induce foreigners to settle 
in Michigan, hoping thus to increase the value of their 
own lands. 

Somebody advised Scholte to station an agent at 
New York in order that he might better spread relia- 
ble information among incoming Hollanders, but he 
made this characteristic reply: *'I could not decide 
upon such a practice, because I was firmly convinced 
that the growth of our Colony was not dependent 
upon the efforts of human beings, that I had given 
sufficient information in Holland about our Colony, 
and therefore I would leave the rest to God's guid- 
ance." Scholte, therefore, contented himself with 
giving a short account of the social, political, and 
religious conditions at Pella, general information 
relative to the journey to America, advice as to what 
might be brought from Holland, a statement of the 



I 



EARLY PROMOTION OF IMMIGRATION 99 

prices of lots at Amsterdam and Pella, and a sum- 
mary of the routes leading to Iowa. 

Hollanders of that day were recommended to take 
the easiest and cheapest route direct to New Orleans 
during the spring or autumn; or, upon arriving at 
New York they could take a steamboat to New Or- 
leans and another up the Mississippi River to St. 
Louis, whence they could proceed to Keokuk, 
Iowa. The most advantageous overland route lay 
from New York to Buffalo, Erie, Beaver, Cincinnati, 
and St. Louis. It was also possible to go by way of 
Buffalo, Chicago, and the Illinois River. During 
the summer of 1848 a railroad was completed be- 
tween Sandusky and Cincinnati so that homeseekers 
could travel by steam all the way from New York to 
St. Louis.^'' 

The Governor of Michigan at this time urged that 
everything possible be done by the State legislature 
to extend to the colony of Hollanders not only tokens 
of welcome and encouragement but also evidences of 
the State's fostering care. Much was thus done to 
direct immigration to Michigan. Iowa, the youngest 
State in the Union, made no organized effort to at- 
tract settlers to her vacant lands until many years 
later, though the General Assembly did not hesitate 
to make a concession similar to that made by Michi- 
gan, allowing the Hollanders a township organiza- 
tion of their own.^^ 

Newspaper men in Holland, favorable to the gov- 
ernment of their day, were not ashamed to publish 
articles in which emigrants to America were placed 



100 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

in a false light, while certain Christian people of Hol- 
land are said not to have refrained from creating a 
wrong impression as to the character of the people 
who were emigrating. Despite all attempts to stop 
the movement toward America, the time for emigra- 
tion was ripe, and every year since 1847 Hollanders 
have emigrated to Iowa. 



XV 

TWENTY- FIVE YEARS OF DUTCH IMMIGRA- 
TION TO IOWA 

Early in the spring of 1848 most of those who had 
been left to spend the first winter at St. Louis took 
leave of their generous American friends, engaged 
passage on a steamboat to Keokuk, and after spend- 
ing nearly three weeks on the way, owing to heavy 
rains and impassable roads, joined their fellow-coun- 
trymen at Pella. During those first years the Pella 
colonists exerted every effort to procure the trans- 
portation from Holland of all the members of the as- 
sociation formed at Utrecht, and they succeeded in 
inducing many to leave the fatherland during the 
years 1848 and 1849 — some coming direct to Iowa, 
others stopping for a time at St. Louis.^** 

For the year 1849 there were recorded the names 
of two hundred and fifty Dutch immigrants who later 
settled in Iowa. They suffered the same hardships 
as their predecessors on the six weeks' ocean voyage, 
one man losing three children by death before he 
could reach Iowa. Many of the immigrants did not 
come straightway to Pella, but broke the journey by 
tarrying in eastern States. Very many of them were 
persons of wealth and education, accustomed to lead- 
ership in Holland. Cordially welcomed to the modest 

101 



102 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Pella homes they began life in the West with a degree 
of comfort unknown to the first comers of two years 
before. These immigrants were a desirable addition 
because they brought the capital which alone could 
assure further progress in the colony. The years 
1850, 1851, and 1852 brought very few Hollanders to 
Pella. The national census figures for 1850 gave 
practically all' the Holland-born inhabitants of Iowa, 
1108 in number, to Lake Prairie Township in Marion 
County."^ 

Especially noteworthy in the history of immigra- 
tion to nearly every part of Iowa were the years im- 
mediately following 1852. This is true also of Pella 
and vicinity, since the largest accessions to the Hol- 
land-born population of Pella were recorded during 
that period. In 1853 and 1854 there came nearly 100 
and 250 Hollanders, respectively, while the names of 
270 persons were added to the list during the year 
1855, 330 in 1856, and 135 in 1857. 

In the month of May, 1856, Scholte expressed him- 
self as follows on the subject of immigration : 

We had this week a good addition to our population by 
emigration from Holland. Able-bodied men and healthy 
women and children have arrived with the intention of mak- 
ing Pella and the surrounding country their home. The 
majority are not rich, in money, nor do they come out of 
the poor-houses or jirisons of the old country. They are 
just the people we need, rich in physical power, and willing 
to work and to improve the country. . . . We congratu- 
late the State of Iowa upon such additions to their popula- 
tion. A large proportion of the inhabitants of Pella and 



TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF IMMIGRATION 103 

Lake Prairie Township are foreigners by birth .... 
but you will hardly find a place less obnoxious to a decent 
American-born citizen. More emigrants are on the road 
from Holland to Pella. Americans from older States, too, 
seem to have some preference for this part of the State, and 
are investing their money in real estate in Pella and vicin- 
ity. We are very well pleased with our share in the immi- 
gration, which materially promotes our interests. Not only 
real estate is rising moderately, but every kind of business 
is increasing, and we have no doubt but eastern merchants 
are already convinced that it is not unimportant to have 
connections with Pella. 

A glance at the census returns for 1856 reveals a 
foreign-born population of 2119 Hollanders in thirty- 
one counties of Iowa. It is of passing interest to 
note that the cities of Burlington and Dubuque con- 
tained about twenty-five Hollanders each ; that Peru 
Township north of Dubuque had thirty-seven ; while 
Keolruk, the ''Gate City of Iowa", had almost one 
hundred and fifty. Fourteen hundred and eighty in- 
habitants of Lake Prairie Township told the census 
enumerator that their birthplace was "The Nether- 
lands", while forty-four answered that their birth- 
place was "Friesland" (a province of The Nether- 
lands). This reply may be taken as characteristic of 
"De Vrije Vries" (the free Frieslander), for he has 
always shown a strong feeling of national pride and 
independence. Ever since that da}' a neighborhood 
northwest of Pella in Summit Township has been 
called ' ' De Vriesche Buurt ' '. 

As early as the year 185G the Dutch immigrants 



304 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

had begun to find the original place of settlement, 
Lake Prairie Township, too small for their accommo- 
dation. Many were forced to locate in the townships 
immediately to the westward, either as independent 
farmers or as hired men and domestics on the farms 
of American settlers. Not only did this advance 
spread westward in Marion County, but it also ex- 
tended eastward into Black Oak Township of Mahas- 
ka County, where dwelt about ninety Holland-born 
settlers. Southeast of Marion lay Wapello County, 
where the census returns gave Green and Columbia 
townships twelve and seventeen Hollanders respec- 
tively. It will thus be seen that the Dutch were 
securing a foot-hold not only in Iowa's larger east- 
ern cities, but also in townships adjacent to the site 
of the original settlement.®^ 

New accessions to the Pella colony for several 
years after 1858 were almost negligible. The Dutch 
chronicler preserved the names of only 30 persons for 
the three years 1858-1860, and recorded the arrival of 
only 71 newcomers during the years of the Civil War. 
The United States census returns for 1860 gave Iowa 
2615 Holland-born inhabitants. Wlien peace had 
been restored, immigration revived and 44 Holland- 
ers came in 1866, 69 in 1867, 53 in 1868, 315 in 1869, 
67 in 1870, 46 in 1871, and 7 in 1872. 

According to the United States Census for 1870 
thirty-five Iowa counties contained no foreign-born 
Dutch, forty-one of the remainder had less than fif- 
teen each, and twenty-three had more than fifteen. 
Benton County had 29 Hollanders, Butler 21, Du- 



TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF IMMIGRATION 105 

buque 111, Grundy 56, Hardin 46, Humboldt 44, Jack- 
son 746, Jasper 33, Jefferson 38, Lee 258, Mahaska 
318, Marion 2077, Muscatine 185, Plymouth 15, Polk 
21, Pottawattamie 16, Scott 46, Sioux 133, and Wa- 
pello 55. The number in Dubuque County had in- 
creased since 1856, as had also been the case in Lee 
County. But especially significant were the increases 
in Jasper and Mahaska counties to the north and east 
of Marion County. Plymouth and Sioux, adjacent 
counties in northwestern Iowa, now showed a Dutch 
population for the first time. The number in Wapel- 
lo County had also increased, while the number as- 
cribed to Jackson County can not be accounted for. 
Lake Prairie Township in Marion County contained 
a Holland-born population of 1892 ; while a majority 
of the 3066 native-born inhabitants were Dutch by 
descent. One-tenth of the foreign-born Dutch in the 
United States in 1870, or a total number of 4513, 
lived in the State of Iowa.®® 



XVI 

PROSPERITY AT PELLA 

The years of the decade from 1850 to 1860 were years 
of prosperous trade conditions in the Pella colony. 
With an abundance of work, high wages, and good 
prices for produce, few people complained of poverty. 
Townspeople and farmers, all began to realize profits 
from their investments after many years of waiting. 
From year to year the city of Pella spread out in 
every direction. Although unfamiliar at first with 
the soil and with American agricultural implements 
and unused to the severity of the climate, Dutch far- 
mers by their zeal and industry rapidly attained to a 
prosperity such as they never could have achieved in 
The Netherlands. In meager circumstances when 
they left Holland, many became in America men of 
considerable wealth.^"" 

Pella, however, was not destined to remain a place 
of settlement for the Dutch alone. A German with 
his family accompanied the Hollanders from St. 
Louis in 1847 and at once engaged in business. He 
was followed by other enterprising Germans, many 
of whom as business men played a noteworthy part 
in improving and building up the city. Moreover, 
a few French families came to Pella. ^"^ 

One of the greatest boons to the city was the de- 

106 



PROSPERITY AT PELLA 107 

cision of the Iowa Baptists in 1853 to found a college 
in Pella. Central University, as it was called, at- 
tracted numerous families of Americans. Indeed, 
by the year 1860 so many Americans had found 
homes at Pella that the population of the city was 
about evenly divided between Dutch and Ameri- 
cans/"^ 

Not all the original American settlers of Lake 
Prairie Township sold their claims to the Hollanders 
in 1847. A number, moreover, remained in adjoin- 
ing townships until they sold out to newcomers from 
Holland, when they entered business life in Pella. 
The Hollanders were thus enabled to come into close 
relations with American farmers and American busi- 
ness men — neighbors who gave generously of their 
store of knowledge gained from years of experience 
in pioneer methods and ways. Many American 
farmers gladly furnished lodging to those of the first 
immigrants who needed it, and many Hollanders by 
working as hired men for Americans obtained an 
acquaintance with the methods of American agricul- 
ture which stood them in good stead when they be- 
gan farming for themselves. The names of the origi- 
nal American settlers were long held in grateful re- 
membrance among the first Dutch pioneers."^ 

In 1856 certain letters were written in Dutch on 
''The Hollanders in Iowa". They contained a very 
complete account of the resources and condition of 
Iowa, and were apparently intended to attract emi- 
grants from Holland by giving them to understand 
just what sort of a State Iowa was. The writer. 



108 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

whose name has always been shrouded in mystery, 
described Pella in 1856, informed his fellow-coun- 
trymen about the progress of the youthful Dutch 
colony, and assured them that in America more than 
anywhere else in the world every man could find 
work to match his talents and enjoy life according 
to his industry: employment was open and inviting 
in every branch of activity, and agriculture was re- 
munerative and profitable. He showed the certainty 
of reward which had attended the efforts of indus- 
trious Dutch immigrants in a fertile country where 
land was abundant and therefore cheap, and where 
the wealth, dignity, and power of the government 
were based upon the prosperity of the people. 

Pella resembled all the towns of this western wil- 
derness for many years and had no easy time estab- 
lishing and maintaining physical orderliness. 
Scholte's English garden was famous throughout the 
countryside for its beauty, and people came miles to 
see it. His walnut grove became the place where an- 
nual old settlers' reunions were held. Garden 
Square with its pretty shade trees was also attrac- 
tive ; but in general the log cabin or frontier stage of 
society prevailed for many years among the Dutch 
settlers in both town and country. It has been well 
said that "nature's ways are different from man's 
ways ; she is reluctant to submit to his control ; she 
does not like to have her hair trimmed and her gar- 
ments confined; she even communicates to man, in 
his first struggles with her, a little of her own care- 



PROSPERITY AT PELLA 109 

lessness, her own apparently reckless and wasteful 
way of doing things." 

In 1855 Johnson County and Iowa City were con- 
gratulated at Pella for having taken the commend- 
able step of voting in favor of a "hog law", whereby 
owners were compelled to keep their hogs locked up 
or run the risk of seeing them impounded. An edi- 
tor at Pella bemoaned the fact that Marion County 
had no such law and that Pella was not incorporated 
as a city, and added: "It is a great drawback to 
this and other inland towns that stock of all kinds 
throng the streets, gi\dng the town limits the appear- 
ance of a monstrous stock farm." One year later 
the same writer made the following announcement: 
"The only corporate building is a hog pen, in the 
western part of the city, for the use of the City Mar- 
shal, to shut up the snoring and grumbling loafers 
about town." 

The "Gelderschman" author of the letters of 
1856 explained how the Hollanders had grown pros- 
perous in farming and business in America and re- 
ferred to the recent growth of population. He told 
of the incorporation of the city of Pella and of the 
first election of city officers — all of whom were 
Dutch except the mayor and three councilmen. A 
German was then justice of the peace ; an American 
and two Hollanders, Scholte and Henry Hospers, 
were notaries public; and a Hollander was post- 
master. 

In 1856 Pella prided herself on three church con- 
gregations — Baptist, Methodist, and Christian Re- 



110 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

formed. Poor-house there was none. The Pella Ga- 
zette was edited and published by Seholte and Edwin 
H. Grant. Americans owned the hotels. Of the doc- 
tors, three were Americans and two were Hollanders. 
Druggists were evenly divided between the two. 
Nine out of fourteen stores and four out of seven 
blacksmith shops were Dutch-owned ; while Germans 
monopolized the hardware business. Besides ordi- 
nary artisans there were two Dutch wagon-makers, 
three coopers, several wooden-shoe-makers, while car- 
penters were legion. Pella also claimed several saw- 
mills, three on the Des Moines River, two near Pella, 
and one on the Skunk Biver. Two new corn-mills 
now relieved farmers from hauling their loads long 
distances. Three brick-kilns and two lime-kilns were 
also mentioned, and in conclusion the writer said of 
Pella: "We pride ourselves on not having those 
pest-holes, saloons, in our midst." 

About this time a citizen of Pella, looking back 
over the years since the Hollanders had come to 
Iowa, wrote these lines : 

About eight years ago the spot where I am now sitting 
down to write appertained to a farm, then occupying a por- 
tion of the place where Pella now stands. How different 
the appearance of the surrounding country at that time from 
what it is now ! Tlien two poor log houses might be seen on 
the ground which constitutes the town of Pella. The great- 
est part of the surrounding prairie was lying waste, with 
only here and there a solitary farm, established by some of 
the first pioneers who settled in the center of the State. 
Now here is our flourishing town, favored with a pictur- 



PROSPERITY AT PELLA 111 

esque and promising situation, and vieing in population, 
prosperity, and above all, in neatness, with the most thriv- 
ing places of Central Iowa. 

The time when we had to be satisfied with the mere ne- 
cessities of life is gone. Our dwellings have ceased to be 
subservient to the single purpose of sheltering us from the 
inclemency of the weather, and both the outward and in- 
ward appearance of many of them bears the marks of re- 
fined taste. 

Furniture, suited to the wants of refined civilization, is 
taking the place of the simple necessaries, which were used 
in the first stage of a new settlement, and our stores fur- 
nish us not only with the comforts, but also with the luxu- 
ries of life. 

Those of our citizens who are afflicted with sickness, can 
obtain anything that is capable of relieving their pain in 
two thriving drug-stores, and such as are thirsty for knowl- 
edge may gratify their taste by calling at as many book 
stores and a public library. 

The Preparatory Department of a University, which is 
being established by the commendable efforts of some of our 
most worthy citizens, offers a chance for thorough educa- 
tion in the various branches of science, and, to crown the 
whole, a paper, favored with an extensive patronage, an- 
nounces the results of our enterprises, advocates our inter- 
ests, and guides our endeavors to improve our social and 
moral conditions. 

It is no less gratifying to cast a glance at the lands 
which surround our town. The country, wliich is spread 
out before my window, and which eight years ago exhibited 
nothing but one monotonous green plot, now presents a 
lovely and motley mixture of houses of every description, 
fences, trees, shocks of corn, hay-stacks, green and open 



112 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

fields. In every direction your eye perceives the richest 
farms, and where the prairie has not been cultivated yet, 
you are pleased to see herds of the finest cattle finding 
abundant food in the grasses and herbs which our fertile 
soil produces spontaneously. Nor need we limit our atten- 
tion to agriculture, for our stone quarries and coal mines 
are worked extensively, and several steam saw-mills, brick- 
yards and lime-kilns testify the enterprising spirit of our 
population. 

A man who visited this country eight years ago and sees 
it again in its present state, must expect to see a fairy [tale] 
realized, and the rapid growth of our Western towns al- 
most seems a miracle to the native of Europe, where the age 
of villages and cities is counted, not by years, but by cen- 
turies."^ 

That Pella was not an out-of-the-way place was 
further shown by the fact that Pella lay on the stage 
route from Burlington via Fort Des Moines to Coun- 
cil Bluffs. But the Western Stage Company did not 
serve the public acceptably as is evident from the 
country editor's complaint: 

We notice with pleasure that considerable additions have 
been recently made to the stock on this road. They have 
been needed badly. For some time past the station between 
this place and Oskaloosa has been abolished, making a drive 
of eighteen miles. And in the other direction, they are said 
to frequently run twenty-four miles without changing. 
This will wear out stock very fast, and the increased 
amount of travel demands better accommodations. Eight 
new teams and three stages passed through this place, a 
day or two since, which will relieve that diificulty mate- 
rially. 



PROSPERITY AT PELLA 113 

But even so the editor liad no kind words for 
stage coaches in which, he asserted, ''a man can 
neither stand, nor sit, nor lie down, but in which his 
body is squeezed and distorted into the most un- 
natural attitudes ; which have windows too small to 
look out of them in the daytime, and just enough 
chinks and apertures to let in the cold, damp air at 
night, and which — laying claim to speed — travel 
at the rate of four miles an hour. ' ' 

Improvement of the Des Moines River channel 
proved to be an empty dream. The stormy career of 
this wonderful project having come to an end, the 
General Assembly of the State of Iowa in 1853 ap- 
propriated an extensive area of land in the Des 
Moines valley for the construction of a railroad. 
Railroad construction in Iowa was very much re- 
tarded by the panic of 1857 and the Civil War. By 
the month of August, 1859, the Burlington and Mis- 
souri River Railroad reached Ottumwa, forty-three 
miles from Pella ; but it was not until the month of 
January, 1865, that the first locomotive on the Des 
Moines Valley Railroad appeared in Pella, though 
the hopes of Pella 's citizens had been raised to a 
high pitch many times before when surveying parties 
mapped out the route. 

Much jubilation prevailed among the Hollanders 
when Pella secured a railroad connection with east- 
ern markets, because business men had for years de- 
pended on the hauling of goods from Keokuk with ox 
or mule or horse teams. The completion of a rail- 
road through Pella to Des Moines in 1866 was 



114 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

placed to the credit of enterprising Keokuk citizens. 
People of the surrounding country came from far 
and near to sell their produce and buy necessities or 
luxuries in Pella, imtil Knoxville welcomed its rail- 
road in 1875. Then business fell off to some extent ; 
but the Hollanders of Pella and vicinity were gener- 
ally satisfied, because their lands and property had 
more than doubled in value. 

For a quarter of a century the Hollanders had 
lived and worked together in Iowa. They had assimi- 
lated much that was American ; but throughout they 
retained their qualities of thrift and industry. Holi- 
days and festive occasions in which all participated 
had been few. To be sure they honored the Fourth 
of July, but not without the singing of Psalms. Dur- 
ing the winter, like true sons of Holland, they en- 
joyed skating races for prizes on the lake near Am- 
sterdam. "When the month of August, 1872, arrived, 
the pioneers of Pella made preparations for a jubilee 
celebration. On the morning of the 28th of August 
they assembled at church, engaged in prayer, joined 
in the singing of Psalms, listened to addresses of a 
historical nature, and then sat down to a big church 
dinner, which was followed by choir music and more 
addresses in the afternoon. Such was the quiet ob- 
servance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the com- 
ing of the Hollanders to Iowa.^°^ 



XVII 

ENCOURAGEMENT OF DUTCH IMMIGRATION 
BY THE STATE 

It is a fact peculiar to later American history that 
most western States have taken a more or less active 
part in promoting immigration to land within their 
borders. Legislatures have repeatedly provided for 
the machinery necessary to advertise the resources 
of their respective States in order to enhance local 
prosperity by inducing homeseekers to invest their 
capital and lives in unused lands. Except for a few 
years the State of Iowa seems never to have taken a 
keen interest in the dissemination of printed infor- 
mation relative to its excellent natural advantages. 
Only once was provision made for the circulation of 
advertising material in foreign countries, and yet 
Iowa could not complain that her lands were too 
slowly occupied by settlers, whether from the east- 
ern States or from Europe. 

The bulk of the population of Iowa in 1880 was 
American-born. About one-half of the inhabitants 
were born within the State, while the other half con- 
sisted chiefly of natives of Ohio, Illinois, New York, 
Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Vir- 
ginia, and Kentucky. Foreign-born inhabitants com- 
posed about one-fifth of the entire population. These 

115 



116 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

facts are cited to show that Iowa was probably con- 
tent with the immigration of native Americans and 
probably preferred not to enter into competition 
with other States for the attention of foreigners. 

Although Iowa as a State failed to encourage im- 
migration, other agencies such as railroad corpora- 
tions, land companies, and speculators more than did 
their part to advertise the State ; but the operations 
of these agencies were restricted as a rule to the 
United States and English-speaking countries, where 
they were largely successful. During the years of 
the Territorial period and the early years of State- 
hood the promotion of immigration was left entirely 
to private enterprise. 

Chief among the factors which attracted the at- 
tention of Hollanders to Iowa were two pamphlets 
written by Scholte, the founder of the Pella colony. 
That these interesting but true accounts of Pella 
were widely sold and read in Holland can not be 
said with certainty, but prospective Dutch emigrants 
who were at all interested in Scholte 's leadership of 
the Separatist movement in Holland must have eager- 
ly looked for his letters. Pella colonists also report- 
ed their experiences to friends and relatives in Hol- 
land, and no doubt urged many to emigrate to Iowa. 
For instance, Sjoerd Aukes Sipma had his ''Impor- 
tant Reports from Pella" published at Dokkum, 
Friesland, in 1849. 

The Dutch booklet on Iowa and Pella, published 
in 1858, must also have exerted considerable influ- 
ence on the emigration movement in Holland, though 



ENCOURAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION 117 

the writer denied any intention to make Iowa appear 
preferable to any other part of the United States. 
"No, people of Holland," he declared, "Pella need 
not offer the slightest inducement to lure you within 
her borders. Year after year a respectable host of 
Hollanders as well as Americans enters unsummoned 
and uninvited, and all without the usual advertise- 
ments generally scattered around America by land 
speculators and others. Unlike her sister colonies in 
Michigan and Wisconsin, Pella has no agents in New 
York and other ports to attract emigrants by means 
of fine-sounding descriptions. . . . The man 
who is interested in land has only to consider how 
land has risen in value here ; the laborer, how many 
hands are busy here; yet this does not mean that 
both can not still find work with profit. ' ' 

The ''Gelderschman" who published his letters 
in 1858 declared to the people of Holland that much 
opportunity still existed for the establishment of 
other Dutch colonies in northeastern and northwest- 
ern Iowa, where the State was less thickly populated 
than in Marion County. He suggested that an asso- 
ciation be formed in Holland to arrange with trust- 
worthy persons in Iowa or Pella as to the place of 
settlement. "Pella acquaintances could be of the 
greatest use", he said, "since they are thoroughly 
familiar with the best way to establish such a colony 
and select the finest lands, and also know where gov- 
ernment land can still be secured. ' ' For such a set- 
tlement the best prospects were opened. The ap- 



118 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

peal, however, went unheeded for it proved to be 
premature/*^" 

In 1856 the Iowa House of Representatives 
adopted a resolution, not without Republican oppo- 
sition, that five hundred copies of Governor Grimes's 
biennial message be printed "in the Holland lan- 
guage for the use of the House". In 1858, several 
thousand copies of the Governor's message and of 
the inaugural address were ordered printed in the 
English language, about two thousand in the German 
language, and five hundred in the Dutch language, 
while the Norwegian language was slighted. In 1860 
also, and biennially thereafter until 1870, one thou- 
sand copies of the Governor's message and address 
were ordered to be printed in Dutch. A further 
resolution was passed to the effect that "H. P. 
Scholte be emploj'^ed to translate and superintend the 
printing"; while one month later the same house re- 
solved that Scholte be required to report "whether 
he has translated said message, and printed the 
same, and if so, why they are not placed upon the 
members' desks for distribution." 

Though these messages and inaugural addresses 
of the Governors were printed ostensibly for the use 
of the legislators themselves, they were intended pri- 
marily for gratuitous distribution among the Dutch 
inhabitants of the State and for further circulation 
in other Dutch-speaking communities. For example, 
in 1862 Henry Hospers was employed to translate 
the Governor's message for "publication in the Hol- 
land paper at Pella, provided it can be done at an 



ENCOURAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION 119 

expense not to exceed $25." Thus the Governor's 
resume of conditions in Iowa could be widely scat- 
tered and brought to the knowledge of foreigners at 
home and abroad, but the profit therefrom can not 
have been far-reaching as a means of promoting im- 
migration."' 

During the first three or four decades in the his- 
tory of Iowa the State made a poor showing in the 
matter of attracting immigrants from foreign coun- 
tries when compared with other western States. In 
Wisconsin laws had been passed authorizing the ap- 
pointment of a commissioner of immigration to re- 
side in the city of New York for the purpose of 
giving immigrants necessary information relative to 
soil, climate, and branches of industry to be pursued 
with advantage, and to protect immigrants as far as 
practicable against the impositions often practiced 
upon them. 

As early as 1852 and 1854 Governor Stephen 
Hempstead urged the legislature of Iowa to adopt 
Wisconsin's attitude towards foreigners who might 
wish to become citizens of Iowa. He deplored the 
fact that some Americans perceived danger in for- 
eign immigration, declaring: "They are generally 
industrious — purchase, settle upon and improve our 
lands, rear their homes, educate their children with 
ours, become attached to our laws and institutions, 
and assist in the defence of the country in times of 
peril.""' 

Not until 1860, while Samuel J. Kirkwood sat in 
the Governor's chair, however, did the State of Iowa 



120 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

give its official sanction to the appointment of an 
officer to reside for two years at New York City and 
thus compete with other western States. At the end 
of his term, Lieutenant-Governor Eusch, the first 
Immigrant Commissioner of Iowa, urged in his re- 
port, which was accepted, that his office be discon- 
tinued because it was of no advantage to tlie State. 
He had learned that most immigrants had selected 
their points of destination before landing at New 
York, and in his opinion, the only way to inform for- 
eigners of the resources of Iowa was to reach them 
before they left Europe. He called attention to the 
good results obtained by emigrant companies and by 
the Illinois Central Railroad Company through 
agents in Europe, without expense to the State of 
Illinois. He added, furthermore, that foreigners 
needed no State commissioners to protect them from 
fraud because the New York State authorities had 
found impositions and robberies so numerous and 
unbearable that a landing-place for all aliens had 
been established at Castle Garden, and from this 
landing all agents and runners were strictly ex- 
cluded. ^°^ 

In his biennial message of 1870 Governor Merrill 
recommended that something be done to diffuse in- 
formation relative to Iowa in foreign countries, as 
neighboring States had systematically and success- 
fully done for many years. A Board of Immigration 
of six members, two of whom, E. Mumm of Keokuk 
and C. Rhynsburger of Pella, were Hollanders, was 
accordingly created ''to do all, and everything, which 



ENCOURAGEMENT OF IMMIGRATION 121 

may and will enhance and encourage immigration" 
to Iowa. This board through its secretary prepared 
a pamphlet of ninety-six pages entitled "Iowa: The 
Home for Immigrants", which was translated into 
the German, Danish, Dutch, and Swedish languages. 
Five thousand copies were printed in Dutch. 

The board commissioned five men to act as 
agents in Europe — among them Henry Hospers, 
Mayor of Pella. The latter went to Holland late in 
the year 1870, and for over two months put forth his 
best efforts to aid, promote, and advise immigration 
to the State of Iowa. When he returned to America, 
the board appointed a reliable resident agent in Hol- 
land to distribute documents and promote the wel- 
fare of emigrants generally. Thus for the first time 
Iowa was competing on equal terms with her sister 
States for a share of European emigration. ^^° 



XVIII 

A BEE-HIVE READY FOR SWARMING 

"Pella and vicinity already [in 1854] showed 
signs of much competition, and yet there still lay 
extensive areas which the plow had never touched. 
Armed with the imagination of a Munchausen, one 
would not have wagered the prophecy that scarcely 
fifteen years later the land would be over-populated 
according to the American's way of thinking, and the 
bee-hive would be ready for swarming. ' ' 

These are the words of a gentleman who left Hol- 
land in 1854 and made his home at Pella. The con- 
stant arrival of fresh accessions of Hollanders and 
Americans since 1847 had so increased the popula- 
tion of the Pella colony that many persons began to 
think of emigration to some spot farther west. In 
1856 a citizen who was particularly concerned with 
the lot of the Hollanders advised the establishment 
of a Dutch settlement in some less crowded portion 
of lowa."^ 

In the year 1860 Henry Hospers, an influential 
citizen of Pella, had occasion to spend a few weeks 
at St. Joseph, Missouri, where he saw hundreds of 
people crossing the Missouri River and emigrating in 
loaded wagons to seek homes in eastern Nebraska. 
He observed ^'that all who had the nerve to settle 

122 



A BEE-HIVE READY FOR SWARMING 123 

upon the prairie found what they so eagerly de- 
sired"; and on his return to Pella he discussed with 
many men the possibility of migrating to Nebraska. 
Indeed, plans were made to raise money with which 
to purchase land, but nothing was done at this time. 

Nevertheless, the need for emigration became 
more pressing as time went on. During the years 
1867 and 1868 Jelle Pelmulder, a Frieslander by 
birth, took up the emigration plan with zeal and 
earnestness, entered into correspondence with land 
officers, obtained much information, and in every way 
'^with Frisian thoroughness gave the emigration ball 
a fresh start". He has been called the originator of 
the plan to purchase land for a colony in northwest- 
ern lowa.^^^ 

That the colonization fever was rapidly spread- 
ing throughout the Pella colony is evidenced by the 
fact that after the formation of an emigrant associa- 
tion the forty-four members appointed a committee 
of three to visit Texas, while a second association 
focused its attention upon Kansas. The three com- 
mitteemen sent out to investigate the Lone Star 
State fell into the hands of a trickster at New Or- 
leans, were relieved of their money, and returned to 
Pella with only a long tale of woe for their trouble. 
A few families succumbed to the Kansas enthusiasm, 
invested their money in that drouth-ridden land, and 
many returned to their Pella homes thoroughly disap- 
pointed. Others went to Oregon and Nebraska with 
the same result."^ 

Although there may have been some considera- 



124 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

tion of the subject of emigration during the year 
1868, it was not until the month of March, 1869, that 
public meetings were held at Pella, and largely at- 
tended, for the purpose of discussing colonization in 
northwestern Iowa. Henry John van der Waa, de- 
ciding that land prices and rents at Pella were too 
high, had written to a land agent at Storm Lake, and 
being informed that there were homesteads enough 
for himself and all his friends, he at once decided to 
sell his Pella property. With that idea in mind he 
went to the office of Henry Hospers to have auction 
bills printed. Wlien Hospers learned what his friend 
intended to do, he wrote to the agent at Storm Lake. 
Upon receipt of a favorable reply he read the letter 
to van der Waa, with the result tliat they called a 
meeting to be held a few weeks later ' ' for the purpose 
of starting a colony." ^^* 

This simple incident led to combined action on 
the part of those who were dissatisfied with condi- 
tions at Pella. Most enlightening in all matters per- 
taining to emigration was Pella' s Weekhlad, edited 
by Henry Hospers. Through the columns of this 
paper the movement was well advertised from the 
first. At the fourth public meeting in Pella the fol- 
lowing resolution met with unanimous approval: 

Whereas, a general need is felt that we should provide 
for ourselves, our fellow-countrymen, and the ever-increas- 
ing emigration from our fatherland, and that we should se- 
cure a suitable region where all may find an abundance of 
cheap land and opportunity for agriculture on an exten- 
sive scale: and 



A BEE-HIVE READY FOR SWARMING 125 

Whereas, we all deem it very desirable to dwell by our- 
selves in a society or community compatible with our na- 
tional character as Netherlanders, where Netherlanders may 
find a hospitable welcome ; 

Resolved, That we use our utmost endeavors to find a 
place in the northwestern or any other part of this State 
where we may obtain sufficient and suitable farm lands at 
a reasonable price; and that we invite to them the atten- 
tion of our countrymen.^^^ 

The first step towards emigration, therefore, 
came at a time when the Hollanders had lived in 
Marion County just twenty-two years. This part of 
the State of Iowa was beginning to be overcrowded ; 
and it is a fact worthy of note that the population of 
Marion County has been stationary since 1870. It is 
true that all available lands had not yet been occu- 
pied : indeed, hundreds of acres still lay untouched. 
But the movement to secure more abundant and 
cheaper land sprang from the greed of Marion 
County's land speculators, who had placed a pro- 
hibitive price upon their land. 

Some years later an observer wrote that the Pella 
colony was favorably situated, the soil was extreme- 
ly fertile, and beneath the surface lay rich and ac- 
cessible coal mines. He added : 

Though the young city's bloom was promoted by its 
being taken into the net of railways, undoubtedly the chief 
cause of its prosperity was the persevering and untiring in- 
dustry of the Dutch inliabitants. The population became 
larger and larger, and the colony spread in all directions. 
A large part of the land, however, was occupied by Ameri- 



126 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

cans. As population increased, the price of land climbed 
higher. In 1847 the /price of broken prairie land ranged 
from $2.50 to $5.00, and twenty years later it was set at 
from $40 to $60. And since the prices of produce had not 
risen correspondingly but had remained comparatively sta- 
tionary, one can easily see why farming as an occupation 
became less lucrative. The increasing population also made 
it more and more difficult to get possession of a farm. 

By the year 1869 those who were children in 1847 
had arrived at a marriagable age. Young men who 
desired to own farm estates of their own saw the wslj 
practically closed to them in Marion County. They 
disliked the prospect of holding farms at high rents 
with no assurance that they would ever save enough 
to enable them to buy land for themselves. As the 
heads of growing families, how could they and their 
children ever advance in the world when high rents 
and high prices obstructed the path? Hence many 
Pella farmers were driven to look elsewhere, eager 
to apply their limited means and willing hands to the 
cultivation of cheaper soil.^^^ 



XIX 

THE INVESTIGATION OF NORTHWESTERN 
IOWA IN 1869 

No sooNEBhad the resolution to emigrate been passed 
than the prospective emigrants appointed a commit- 
tee of three trustworthy, practical farmers to visit 
northwestern Iowa and decide whether a Dutch set- 
tlement would be practicable in that region. At the 
same time every member of the emigrant association 
was taxed three dollars to pay the expenses of the 
committee. Later they selected a fourth committee- 
man, who consented to act * ' if the association would 
get some one to take his place on the farm". The 
prospective emigrants also agreed to pay a certain 
member of the committee one dollar per day for the 
use of his span of mules for the journey. 

Having fitted out a ''prairie schooner" with 
necessary camping apparatus and supplies, the fol- 
lowing men departed from Pella on Monday, April 
26, 1869: Sjoerd Aukes Sipma and Jelle Pelmulder, 
two Frieslanders by birth, aged fifty-six and fifty- 
two respectively, Hubert Muilenburg, Sr., aged forty- 
seven, and Henry John van der Waa, a young man 
who had come to Pella with his parents during the 
first years of the settlement. While on the trip Pel- 
mulder despatched several interesting letters to the 

127 



128 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Dutch newspaper at Pella. From their camp in the 
timber south of Nevada in Story County he wrote: 
' ' Coffee nearly ready, bacon frying in the pan — we 
are hale and hearty. Roads so bad we travel slowly. 
Greet our families and friends." 

From Pella the committee proceeded by way of 
Newton, Iowa Center, Story City, and Webster City, 
and then joining a long train of emigrant wagons fol- 
lowed the line of the Illinois Central Railroad to 
Fort Dodge, encountering swollen rivers and creeks 
and muddy roads. At Fort Dodge they halted for a 
day or two, just long enough to discover that the 
country in the vicinity was unsuitable for their pur- 
poses. They had intended to go north into Emmet, 
Palo Alto, and Kossuth counties; but at the land 
ofiice they learned that homesteads in that direction 
were scarce and devoid of timber. They therefore 
continued westward to Storm Lake through Calhoun 
and Pocahontas counties with their scattered settlers, 
following the stakes which marked the route of the 
Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railway. Nearly the 
whole distance from Fort Dodge to the north bank of 
Storm Lake was a roadless stretch of country to 
which people had but recently been attracted. The 
committee very carefully took note of where the best 
land lay. 

At the lake the committeemen spent Sunday with 
a Methodist preacher who had been sent as a mission- 
ary to the two hundred or more pioneers of Buena 
Yista County. Finding the land to the north of 
Storm Lake very good, but taken by homesteaders. 



INVESTIGATION OF NORTHWESTERN IOWA 129 

they followed an old government road to Cherokee — 
a distance of about twenty miles, most of which was 
a treeless, houseless expanse of prairie land with a 
number of little streams. The whole population of 
Cherokee County at that time consisted of but four 
hundred and fifty-nine people, and what is now the 
city of Cherokee consisted of a group of small houses, 
a stockade where soldiers had been stationed, and a 
store, the keeper of which was very talkative and 
friendly in his reception of the Hollanders from 
Pell a. "He too was already a land-agent as is near- 
ly everybody else who can write and knows what a 
section of land is." 

From Cherokee to Melbourne in Plymouth Coun- 
ty the homeseekers traversed forty miles of prairie 
country as beautiful as any they had ever seen ; but 
not a single settler's homestead appeared in sight. 
About ten miles west of Cherokee they examined the 
soil, sub-soil, water and drainage, and found every- 
thing so satisfactory that they decided to recommend 
that region as the best site for a colony, provided one 
or two townships of land could be obtained. 

On the road westward the committee met numer- 
ous persons with teams and wagons going to or re- 
turning from the Sioux City land office. The rumor 
of free and fertile lands had begun to attract crowds 
of people to northwestern Iowa. One night while 
sleeping in their wagon near the road, the men from 
Pella were awakened by the loud barking of their 
dog as two men noisily drove past : "they were rush- 
ing to Sioux City to forestall other persons who 



130 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

wanted the same homesteads." Everywhere the 
land was of good quality and well adapted to the pur- 
poses of a Dutch colony, except that the settlers 
would be dependent on railroads for their fuel and 
lumber. 

The committee rested on Sunday, the 9th of Ma.j, 
near Melbourne, a prosperous farming community of 
about one hundred and eighty persons in the valley 
of the Floyd Eiver. Upon the invitation of a Ger- 
man minister's wife, who furnished them with re- 
ligious tracts, all attended services and listened to a 
sermon which '*we, being Hollanders, could not un- 
derstand at all ' '. 

Two weeks from the time they had left Pella the 
four Hollanders reached Sioux City, a *' booming" 
western town already the home of a government land 
office and destined soon to be a busy railroad center. 
They hastened at once to inquire about land, but so 
great was the throng of homeseekers who had col- 
lected before the office doors were opened at nine 
'clock that they waited until noon before they could 
speak with the officer in charge. So eager were some 
men in their desire to outstrip others for the same 
land that fights were frequent and foot-races were 
run for first choice. 

By special arrangement, on that same day the 
Pella men gained admission to the land office after 
dark, entering by way of the back door. They de- 
clared their intention to report favorably on land 
from ten to fifteen miles west of Cherokee on both 
sides of the railway survey. ''When our purpose be- 
came known," wrote a member of the committee, 



INVESTIGATION OP NORTHWESTERN IOWA 131 

"the gentlemen showed much willingness to serve, 
and I believe we were very welcome : they would have 
rejoiced to see our colony in the neighborhood of 
Sioux City." The committee, however, could do no 
more than speak of intention, and the officials could 
only inform the Hollanders that they might buy land 
sufficient for large colonies in Cherokee, Sioux, 
'Brien, and Lyon counties. 

Irmnediately upon the return of the committee to 
Pell a, after a wagon journey of nearly five hundred 
and fifty miles, all prospective emigrants were sum- 
moned to a meeting on the first of June, 1869. Two 
hundred Hollanders attended, and listened eagerly 
to the glowing report of their committee, who "could 
not find words enough to describe the beauty of 
northwestern Iowa, especially the neighborhood of 
Cherokee." At a subsequent meeting in June pros- 
pective homesteaders made their first declaration be- 
fore the county clerk and signed applications for 
homesteads; authorized the distribution of home- 
steads by lot ; subscribed for sixty ten-dollar shares 
in a town-site; decided to call the proposed town 
"New Holland", and to allow Henry Hospers one- 
third of the land on the town-site ; and finally they 
resolved to despatch a second committee to the site 
of the proposed settlement and to pay Henry John 
van der Waa $2.50 per day for the use of his mule 
team. Eighty-six Pella farmers signified their desire 
to obtain homesteads, and thirteen others were pre- 
pared to buy from eighty to four hundred and eighty 
acres of land outright. They subscribed for several 
thousand acres in all."^ 



XX 

THE CHOICE OF SIOUX COUNTY 

Late in the month of June, 1869, the second commit- 
tee of four was appointed with authority to make a 
definite choice of land for a colony, and to secure the 
land in accordance with the requirements of the na- 
tional homestead and preemption laws. Moreover, 
they were authorized to select and buy a town-site, 
and to do everything that was necessary to advance 
the colonization plan of the prospective emigrants 
from Pella. 

Of the committeemen — Leen van der Meer, Dirk 
van den Bos, Henry John van der Waa, and Henry 
Hospers — three made the journey to Sioux City 
with mule-team and covered wagon. Hospers went 
by rail by way of Des Moines and Council Bluffs in 
order to make a preliminary study of maps in the 
land office and procure all necessary information. 
He wrote from Sioux City that his ''train was loaded 
with emigrants thirsting for land, land, land." When 
they had arrived at Sioux City, the committeemen 
were greatly exasperated to find that their plan to 
buy land a few miles west of Cherokee had been 
frustrated by speculators, who had gobbled up all 
that region with the hope of selling it to the Hol- 
landers at a handsome profit. Despite this disap- 

132 



THE CHOICE OF SIOUX COUNTY 133 

pointment, the committee resolved to do the next best 
thing : since the Hollanders of Pella desired a large 
area exclusively for themselves at government 
prices, they would pass by the speculators in Chero- 
kee County and examine Sioux and Lyon counties 
where government and railroad lands were still 
abundant. 

At Sioux City, therefore, the four men loaded 
their covered wagon with provisions calculated to 
last during a three weeks sojourn on the prairies, 
engaged a surveyor, and set out northward to ex- 
plore the northwestern counties. They traveled the 
road to Junction City (now called Le Mars), where 
they found only one small store building, and then 
followed the banks of a stream, the Floyd Eiver, for 
about fifteen miles to the southern boundary of Sioux 
County. Except for the homes of three or four pio- 
neers they saw neither dwellings, trees, nor roads — 
only a series of gently rolling swells of beautiful 
prairie land clothed with its wealth of green buffalo 
grass and wild flowers of every kind. 

The appearance of Sioux County early in July so 
impressed the Pella prospectors that without the 
slightest doubt or hesitation they unanimously de- 
clared: "Here is the place!" With map and sur- 
veyor's compass as guides they sought and found 
the corner stakes of the government sections, mea- 
sured off two townships, selected a town-site six 
miles north of the Plymouth County line, gave the 
locality the name of ''Plolland", and took possession 
of thirty-eight sections of land. After throwing up 



134 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

small mounds of earth in the new townships to mark 
the way back, the party returned to Sioux City. 
There, in a surveyor's office, they apportioned the 
land among the prospective colonists in the following 
manner: section numbers and names of homestead- 
ers were written on separate slips of paper and 
placed in separate boxes ; for each section number a 
name was drawn ; and the drawer became entitled to 
the northeast quarter of the section and also to the 
choice of relatives whom he wished to have settle on 
the adjoining quarter-sections. After this work was 
done three members of the committee returned to 
Pella, while Henry Hospers remained at Sioux City 
to make sure that the necessary papers were pre- 
pared and filed according to law and that affidavits 
were deposited in the name of the various Pella 
homeseekers. 

By the United States homestead law of that day 
a duly qualified person could obtain either eighty or 
one hundred and sixty acres of government land ac- 
cording as the land lay within or without the range of 
a railroad land grant. In Sioux County every alter- 
nate section of land, designated by odd numbers, for 
ten sections in width on each side of the line of the 
proposed road had been granted by Congress in 1864 
to the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad. Much of 
the land selected by the Hollanders in even-num- 
bered sections was situated within ten miles of the 
proposed railroad, and hence each prospective home- 
steader was entitled to only eighty acres. 

To obtain a homestead it was necessary to file an 



THE CHOICE OF SIOUX COUNTY 135 

application and affidavit with the Register of the 
Land Office at Sioux City, at which time the claim 
took effect, and thereupon the applicant was re- 
quired to make his home upon the land. After five 
years of settlement and cultivation, or within two 
years, upon satisfactory proof to the Register, a 
patent or complete title-deed was issued to the set- 
tler. 

Congress provided a second method by which a 
title to government land could be obtained. By the 
preemption law, the person who desired to "pre- 
empt" rather than "homestead" was obliged to set- 
tle on one hundred and sixty acres of land, and with- 
in thirty days to file at the District Land Office his 
declaratory statement as to the fact of settlement, 
appear at the office within one year, make proof of his 
actual residence on and improvement of the land, 
and at the time of "proving up" secure the title 
either by filing a warrant duly assigned to him or by 
the cash payment of $1.25 or $2.50 per acre accord- 
ing as the land was situated without or within the 
limits of a railroad land grant.^^^ 



XXI 

A GLIMPSE OF SIOUX COUNTY IN 1869 

No SOONER had the committee reported at Pella than 
the emigrants prepared to make a brief preliminary 
visit to their homesteads in Sioux County. Early 
in September, 1869, seventy-five men in eighteen 
wagons, with three surveyors and sufficient provi- 
sions, journeyed to the site of their future farms 
nearly three hundred miles away, labored for a week 
or two surveying and plowing in compliance with the 
law, and then returned home, thoroughly convinced 
that they had seen the finest land in the State of 
Iowa. 

No words could better describe the appearance of 
northwestern Iowa than those of an eminent visitor 
from Holland : 

Road is — to be honest — mere euphemism here, a figur- 
ative expression, a sort of poetic license ; as for a highway, 
there was none or just a trail. The boundless prairie lay 
spread out before us, and driver and horses knew their 
course. 'Twas a ride not without its peculiar enjoyment. 
Ti-ue: it was bitterly cold in the wind which swept unob- 
structed from the North. I could only imagine hoAV very 
different things must be in summer when the thick, soft 
carpet of dark green grass appears dotted with flowers of all 
colors; but even so, despite the barrenness, wildness, and 
monotony of the scene, yea by reason of these, there is some- 

136 



A GLIMPSE OF SIOUX COUNTY IN 1869 137 

thing grand and awe-inspiring in the landscape. Nothing 
impedes or interrupts the view, whithersoever one looks. 
No hill or rock, not even a house or tree, not a single sharp 
line. Nothing, absolutely nothing but the vast, broad 
prairie ! And yet it is somewhat different from the single 
horizontal line which describes our low, level meadows in 
Holland: an endless succession of irregular, undulating 
slopes which seem to extend one's circle of vision in- 
definitely. 

There is an inexpressible charm, something solemn, 
mysterious in the nature of the landscape which speaks to 
the imagination and even to the heart. It awakens a con- 
sciousness such as that aroused by a view of the ocean ; yes, 
in a certain sense it is even stronger here. There, in bound- 
less space is the unending monotony of restless water ; here, 
over the vast but motionless waves, petrified as it were, 
reigns a deep, solemn stillness, emblematic of peace and 
immortality, but also of fresh, free, invincible power. In- 
deed, there is poetry in the view, and I realize now why the 
Arab waxes enthusiastic over the desert ; I understand now 
why the poetical soul of such a person as Miss Currer Bell 
loves the monotonous heath of North-England more than 
the most picturesque landscape. I can almost explain what 
people, here say of a settler of the prairies, who complained 
of being stifled when he caught sight in the distance of 
smoke rising from the chimney of a "neighbor" who had 
located twenty miles away ! 

Though its establishment as a county dated back 
to 1852, Sioux County lay too far away from every 
beaten path between the East and the West to at- 
tract any serious notice at this early date. Like its 
neighbors Plymouth, Osceola, and Lyon counties, it 



138 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

consisted simply of prairie, with hardly a tree to be 
seen. What could a pioneer accomplish without tim- 
ber for logs, fence rails, fuel, and boards? Sioux 
County also lacked railroads. It is not strange, 
therefore, that homeseekers had found no great in- 
ducement to lay out farms on the bleak prairies. As 
a matter of fact, in 1869 it was only on the heavily 
wooded banks of the Big Sioux River, the western 
boundary of the State and county, that settlers were 
to be found. Plere a small village called Calliope 
had sprung up. 

Before settlers made their appearance in north- 
western Iowa nothing certain is known of its history. 
That man had ever had a fixed abode on those beauti- 
ful prairies there was not the slightest trace; but 
bones, scattered here and there upon the earth's sur- 
face or half-buried in the soil, proved that herds of 
buffaloes, elks, and deer had grazed there from time 
immemorial, and suggested that tribes of Indians 
might have hunted and departed again to their wig- 
wams in some other region. ^^^ 

Census statistics gave Sioux County a population 
of 10 inhabitants in 1860, estimated the number at 
25 and 20 in the years 1863 and 1865, at 18 in 1867, 
and at 110 in 1869, when Buncombe Township, which 
was established sometime before 1861, embraced al- 
most the entire county. The same census for 1869 
credited Lyon and Osceola counties with no inhabi- 
tants, O'Brien County with 51, and Plymouth County 
with 179, while the counties just to the east were only 
a little less sparsely settled. 



A GLIMPSE OF SIOUX COUNTY IN 1869 139 

But if Sionx County in 1869 lacked ever5i;hing 
except fertility, its inhabitants and others interested 
in its future knew that within another year a rail- 
road would reach Le Mars about eighteen miles 
away, and that they might soon expect a second rail- 
road to place them in touch with St. Paul and Sioux 
City. Then exploitation of the soil would promise 
great rewards. It was, therefore, a matter of but a 
few years before Sioux County would have all the 
means of transportation and communication pos- 
sessed by older communities.^-" 



XXII 

THE PLATTING OF ORANGE CITY 

During the winter months of 1869 the selection of 
Sioux County as a site for a new Dutch colony re- 
ceived much publicity in the Dutch newspapers of 
America, and especially in Fella's Weekhlad. Hen- 
ry Hospers wrote many articles to encourage interest 
in the colonization movement. As the leader of the 
emigrant association, he assured people that the pro- 
gress and development of the new settlement in 
Sioux County was bound to be phenomenal, because 
there was no land under the sun more fertile. All 
winter long the favorite topic of conversation at 
Pella was emigration, and careful preparations were 
made for the approaching journey.^^^ 

In the spring of 1870, in the months of April and 
May, Henry John van der Waa headed the first emi- 
grant train of five families to northwestern Iowa, 
completing the journey in nineteen days. A second 
train consisting of several families of Frieslanders 
was piloted by Jelle Pelmulder. Leen van der Meer 
and Dirk van den Bos conducted a third group, while 
other families of Hollanders followed during the 
spring and summer, some even coming from distant 
Chicago, so that during the year sixty-five or seventy 
families settled upon Sioux County homesteads. ^"- 

140 



THE PLATTING OF ORANGE CITY 141 

In this way commenced the settling of the virgin 
prairies of northwestern Iowa. The favorable situ- 
ation and fertility of land in the vicinity of Pella, the 
presence of coal mines, a railroad and good markets, 
and above all the industry and thrift of the Dutch 
inhabitants — all had conduced to the purchase of 
unsold Marion County lands by speculators who 
hoped that as the population of Pella and vicinity 
increased they might reap profit from the Holland- 
er's growing thirst for good land. Had Americans 
not prematurely raised land prices, the Hollanders 
of Pella would have made themselves masters of an 
area of country much more extensive than that occu- 
pied to-day. Young married men just starting out in 
life and many other ambitious men were forced to 
look toward the vacant public lands of Sioux County 
for better things, and thither they steered their ox 
and horse teams, driving herds of cattle before them, 
eager to set up homes for their wives and children. 

Numerous pioneers who had lived in or near Pella 
since 1847 left the comforts of their town and country 
homes to undergo once more the discomforts con- 
nected with the reclamation of a new country. For 
some months they lived in tents and used their cov- 
ered wagons for sleeping purposes. Despite the 
fact that the new colony possessed railroad connec- 
tions at Le Mars about eighteen miles to the south — 
a convenience which Pella had lacked for seventeen 
years — many of the Sioux County pioneers either 
had no desire to haul lumber so far or else they con- 
sidered frame dwellings beyond their means, for 



142 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

after spending several weeks preparing the rich soil 
for the first season's crops, they began to build 
houses as far as possible without lumber. 

Five months after taking possession of their 
lands the Sioux County Hollanders still lived for 
the most part in ''dug-outs" or sod houses such as 
many of them had first become acquainted with in 
Marion County. Some found their wagons suf- 
ficiently comfortable during the warm summer and 
autumn weather, and so continued to devote all their 
time to ploughing or ''breaking" their prairie farms, 
the main object being to get them in readiness for 
seeding in the spring of 1871. Few colonists lived in 
frame houses during the first year. 

To recall the nature of the first human habita- 
tions upon that vast stretch of rolling prairie region, 
now dotted everywhere with commodious houses and 
barns sheltered by groves of trees, reveals much of 
the community life of those enterprising Dutch pio- 
neer fathers of Holland Township. Usually a dug- 
out was constructed upon the eastern or southern 
slope of a hill to secure protection against north- 
western blasts in winter. Excavations were made 
and four walls of thick prairie sod were then raised 
to an equal height and a roof of long slough grass 
was added. Generally these sod houses had two 
openings, one to serve as window and the other as 
door, both of which required an outlay of little more 
than one dollar. 

In most cases, it is said, "these homes consisted 
of but one compartment which served as parlor, liv- 



THE PLATTING OF ORANGE CITY 143 

iiig-room, dining-room, bed-room, kitchen, and cellar. 
The more elaborate houses had one room partitioned 
off by a sod wall, which did service as a bed-room 
where berths were arranged along the wall some- 
times two or three above one another. The furni- 
ture of these homes was also very simple and limit- 
ed : a dry-goods box placed in the center of the room 
was often used as a wardrobe, a cupboard, and a 
dining table. The walls were so dug out that a seat 
all the way round about the height of an ordinary 
chair was left : this obviated the necessity of buying 
chairs. The fuel of those days consisted of slough 
grass, very ingeniously and tightly twisted in order 
to last longer in the fire. ' ' 

Happiness and contentment reigned within those 
simple homes to no small degree. Good-will and 
kindly feeling prevailed among their occupants. 
''When any one was in distress or in need of aid, all 
joined hands; and when most of them were about 
equally penniless and unable to offer their empty 
purses in rendering assistance they found some way 
to serve one another. They helped build each 
other's houses and barns; they watered each other's 
cattle; they took charge of each other's children 
. . . . and assisted in every kind of work. " ^^^ 

In such inartistic huts most of the first settlers 
lived for many months, because the expense was 
trifling and no less because they had no time to build 
more substantial houses. House-building stood sec- 
ond upon their program : prairie-breaking came first. 
Some of the settlers were fairly well-to-do financial- 



144 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ly; most of them, however, had sunk their limited 
wealth into the soil. Their chief capital at the out- 
set was willing hands, which they were glad to apply 
without stint to the production of an excellent har- 
vest, after which they would plan bigger and better 
things. 

As the winter of 1870 approached, and sheds, 
cribs, and fuel came into demand, the Hollanders 
found that they must either go to he Mars about 
eighteen miles southwest, a station on the Iowa Falls 
& Sioux City Eailroad, or else journey with teams 
and wagons to the Rock River twenty-five miles to 
the northwest, since the supply of willows and box- 
elders upon the banks of the Floyd River had been 
exhausted. The colonists chose to haul their fire- 
wood, logs, and posts from the river without cost 
rather than go into debt by paying handsome prices 
to the lumber dealers at Le Mars. A few squatters 
in that region of Sioux County, claiming to be owners 
of the land, met the Hollanders with pitch-forks and 
axes, but these weapons did not deter the Dutchmen 
from getting what they wanted : they would not be 
thwarted after making such a journey through bliz- 
zards and freezing weather. The squatters, there- 
fore, adopted other methods: they removed bolts 
from the wagons while the Dutch settlers were busy 
chopping. But the meanest thing perpetrated by 
them was to put powder in pieces of firewood so that 
explosions frequently occurred in the cook-stoves of 
the Dutch housewives.^-^ 

Merchandise and other products of tlie civilized 



THE PLATTING OF ORANGE CITY 145 

world were hauled overland from the railroad sta- 
tion at Le Mars. Hollanders who became county of- 
ficials in 1870 and 1871 were obliged to travel on foot 
twenty-five miles westward to the county seat, Cal- 
liope, to attend to county business : snow-drifts and 
the absence of bridges made progress with teams 
and wagons well-nigh impossible, and walking in the 
winter time was warmer, more comfortable, and 
more rapid. 

In the year 1870 the colonists saw fit to perpetuate 
a name which Hollanders have always carried with 
them wherever they have settled, whether in North 
America, South America, Africa, or Asia. The 
Dutch immigrants who founded Pella had suffered so 
much at the hands of King William and his govern- 
ment that they were in no mood to remember the 
name of Holland's Prince of Orange by inscribing 
it upon the map of their settlement in Marion County. 

The founders of the Dutch colony in Sioux Coun- 
ty, however, had forgotten the persecutions insti- 
gated by their Prince, and like all Hollanders they 
prided themselves on being "Orangemen": they re- 
called the political cry of their ancestors, adherents 
of the House of Orange-Nassau, ''Oranje boven!" 
(Orange forever!) Accordingly, the title of the 
Dutch royal house, obtained originally from the city 
and district of Orange about twelve miles north of 
Avignon in southern France, was placed upon the 
map of Iowa as "Orange City", in Holland Town- 
ship. ^^^ 

When the emigrants organized their association 



346 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

at Pella in the spring of 1869, they decided that all 
who wished might subscribe ten dollars in order to 
become entitled to a share in the site of a new town 
to be laid out in Sioux County. At first they con- 
sidered it best that Henry Hospers should have one- 
half of the town lands and that the association should 
retain the other half. Later when sixty prospective 
emigrants had bought shares in a town to be called 
"New Holland", the members of the association re- 
solved to grant one-third of the town-site to their 
agent Henry Hospers to reimburse him for all his 
activity in behalf of the colonization project. ^"'^ 

The town of Orange City, which was laid out soon 
after the Hollanders arrived from Pella, at first em- 
braced a quarter-section of land in the middle of the 
rich farming country selected for the colony. The 
emigrant association at once set apart one block for 
a public park, staked off lots most of which were 
fifty by one hundred and twenty-five feet in size, and 
decided to lay aside one-fifth of the proceeds of the 
sale of lots as a college fund. It was stipulated in 
all conveyances that the purchaser should plant 
shade trees fronting his lot, whether buildings were 
erected or not. That these lines of trees might be 
planted with uniformity and regularity, furrows 
were plowed at the proper distance from the lots 
along all the streets, thus also preparing the ground 
for the setting of the trees. The streets running 
north and south were named Sioux, Pella, William, 
Washington, and Prairie. ^^^ 

One of the first two buildings in the prairie vil- 



THE PLATTING OF ORANGE CITY 147 

lage of Orange City was a sclioolliouse, and the 
population in 1870 consisted of a carpenter and his 
wife and son. In the spring and summer of 1871 a 
few houses were built, and an inn-keeper, a shoemak- 
er, a barber, and a blacksmith came to town. Hos- 
pers also sent a contractor to build the first colony 
store. Here, it is said, butter and eggs were received 
in exchange for merchandise, and on account of the 
general scarcity of money among the settlers, no 
credit was given for a time until the leader of the 
colony invented ''store orders", the drawer of which 
bound himself to break a specified number of acres 
of prairie soil. These orders or promises to work 
circulated quite extensively for a time. 

After the severe winter of 1871-1872, when snow- 
storms had interfered very much with the tedious 
journeys to gather fuel along the rivers, the St. Paul 
and Sioux City Kailroad was completed through the 
eastern part of the new colony with a station at East 
Orange (now Alton), about four miles east of Orange 
City. No other agency proved to be so great a boon 
to the settlement's growth: it spared many a long 
wagon journey for fuel, and offered the settlers ade- 
quate and fairly convenient facilities for the trans- 
portation of grain, and the importation of lumber, 
farm implements, merchandise, and other necessa- 
ries. 

The Hollanders had made themselves such a pow- 
er at the polls that at the autumn election of 1872 
a majority of voters declared their desire that the 
county seat be removed from Calliope to the eastern 



148 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

part of the county where most of the inhabitants 
lived. The Board of Supervisors thereupon re- 
solved that the county records and property be 
transferred at once. Courthouse and jail were es- 
tablished in Orange City and a poor-farm was 
selected just outside the town limits. Henceforth 
ofiicial life centered in the Dutch colony.^-* 

For three years the Dutch pioneers of Sioux 
County experienced steady progress upon their prai- 
rie farms. They had gathered a modest crop of 
wheat and corn from their newly-broken acres in 
1870 and were abundantly blessed in the harvest sea- 
sons of 1871 and 1872. A bright future seemed to 
beckon to all Hollanders who were willing to be eco- 
nomical and industrious. They had contended with 
many hardships and had sacrificed much, but en- 
joyed the peace and harmony of a pleasant commu- 
nity life. They had learned to take a neighborly in- 
terest in one another's welfare and they aided one 
another with advice and practical assistance. They 
were communistic in spirit if not in fact. One hun- 
dred and sixty-three families had become housed 
within as many dwellings in Holland Township, and 
twenty-seven families lived at Orange City. The 
entire population of these two political divisions, not 
counting the Dutch settlers of Nassau and other 
townships, numbered over one thousand persons, or 
about one-third of the total population of the coun- 
ty."' 

The founding of a "daughter" colony in Sioux 
County is perhaps the most noteworthy incident in 



THE PLATTING OF ORANGE CITY 149 

the history of Pella, not only because an abundance 
of excellent farm land was discovered for so many 
of Pella 's younger generation of inhabitants, who 
were thus saved to the State of Iowa, but also be- 
cause Orange City and vicinity have come to be the 
third successful Dutch settlement in the United 
States. 



XXIII 

HENRY HOSPERS AND IMMIOEATION TO 
SIOUX COUNTY 

The choice of a site for the new Dutch colony was 
well advertised by Henry Hospers in his family 
newspaper, Bella's Weekblad, which counted many 
readers among the Hollanders of Wisconsin and 
Michigan and through Dutch newspapers in those 
States and various other exchanges reached hun- 
dreds of people not only in America but also in The 
Netherlands. 

Henry Hospers was but a youth of seventeen 
5'ears when he arrived in Iowa with Scholte's first 
large body of Dutch immigrants. His rise upon the 
western frontier of the New World was typically 
American. Beginning as one of Pella's first school- 
masters, he next obtained the practical experience of 
a surveyor and then became land-agent and notary 
public with a prosperous business. The panic of 
1857 placed him in dire straits and difficulties — only 
his broad knowledge of men and conditions, together 
with stamina and will-power, enabled him to rise 
above misfortune. He founded the first Dutch news- 
paper in Pella, was editor for nearly ten years ; and 
he served also as mayor of Pella from 1867 to 1871. 
As a candidate for county surveyor in 1856 and for 
State Representative in 1869 he suffered defeat at 

150 



HENKV TTOSl'KRS 



HKNKV IIOSI'EBS 



XXIIX 



HENRY HOSPEES AN i 
8I0UX C- 

The )f a site for tl 

well ,!■ v.-,urfed by Hei'' 
newspaper, Pella's Wej 



\TION TO 



•y was 

11 ill- i'araily 

•ouiited many 



readers among the Hollan<i"r8 of Wisconsin and 



V' ' ' '■■ and through Dn' 
S .... „iid various other 
dreds of people not onlv ii. 
Netherlands. ««^'''^"^" ^''''■' 

Henry Hospers was i 
years when he arrived in 
large body of Dutch im' 
western frontier of the .\ 
American. Beginning n- ■ 
masters, he next obtaine 
a survej^or and then becan 
public with a prosperoi 
1857 placed him in dire i^:; 
his broad knowledge of mei 
with stamina and will-pow<M 
above misfortune. He four 



pers in those 
reached hun- 
it also in The 



•iiteen 
s first 
• ' upon the 
typically 
. iirst school- 
experience of 
tgent and notary 
The panic of 
liiculties — only 
iiditions, together 
enabled him to rise 
" '^ first Dutch news- 
! ly ten years; and 



paper in Pella, was editor i 
he served also as mayor of Pella from 1867 to 1871. 
As a candidate for county surveyor in 18.56 and for 
State Representative in 18^ -^ 1"^ ^iift'.r.M* .l-feat at 



150 




HENRY HOSPEBS 



HENRY HOSPERS AND IMMIGRATION 151 

the polls. It was while he occupied the mayor's 
chair that the State Board of Immigration commis- 
sioned him to go to The Netherlands to promote 
Dutch immigration to Iowa. 

Of this mission Hospers rendered a full report in 
which he stated by way of preface that though he 
was commissioned in July he did not leave for Eu- 
rope until the middle of October, 1870, because there 
was imminent danger that The Netherlands might 
become involved in the Franco-Prussian War. Soon 
after his arrival at Rotterdam on the third day of 
November he opened an office in the village of Hoog 
Blokland in the province of Zuid Holland, and imme- 
diately caused advertisements to be inserted in the 
chief newspapers published at Amsterdam, Rotter- 
dam, Haarlem, Hensden, Kampen, and Leeuwar- 
den."" 

The advertisement, translated from the Dutch, 
read as follows : 

UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA 

Mr. Henry Hospers, Mayor of the city of Pella, in the 
State of Iowa, United States of North America, specially 
commissioned by the Board of Immigration of the said 
State of Iowa, will remain in The Netherlands until the 15th 
day of January, A. D., 1871, for the purpose of giving de- 
tailed information to all who wish to emigrate to Iowa, 
about the country, climate and prospects of said State. All 
letters will be promptly answered without charge ; and 
further notice will be given at what places and times per- 
sons interested can have a general conference with him. 

Address: Henry Hospers, Care of Wm. Middelkoop, 
Esq., Hoog Blokland, near Gorinchem. 



152 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

A^Tien these advertisements appeared in the news- 
papers of Holland, letters began to pour in from all 
the provinces, filled with inquiries about Iowa lands. 
To answer all questions properly would have neces- 
sitated the assistance of several clerks. Hospers, 
therefore, composed and published a pamphlet of 
eight pages, entitled: "Iowa: Shall I emigrate to 
America ? Practically answered by a Hollander who 
has resided for twenty-four years in one of the best 
States in the Union. ' ' One thousand of these pam- 
phlets were printed and mailed to inquirers free of 
charge throughout The Netherlands. 

Except Saturdays, when he remained at his office 
to read and answer letters, and Sundays, Hospers 
spent all of the time from the 28th of November, 
1870, until the 11th day of January, 1871, traveling 
through The Netherlands and personally meeting 
scores of people according to appointments previous- 
ly made. Thus, he held five conferences at 'Gorin- 
chem, four at Kotterdam, three at Amsterdam, two 
at Utrecht and Heerenveen, and others at Genderen, 
's Hertogenbosch, Dordrecht, Klundert, Axel, Leeu- 
warden, Dronrijp, and other places. He reported 
that every imaginable sort of question was put to 
him and that "most of these conferences were pro- 
longed till after midnight". 

In his message to the Board of Immigration in 
March, 1871, Hospers wrote : 

Many, especially persons with large families, were anx- 
ious to learn all about Iowa. Parents, surrounded with all 
the comforts of life, worth from $10,000 to $40,000, with 



HENRY HOSPERS AND IMMIGRATION 153 

several grown-up children, and willing to leave those com- 
forts behind, in order to better the position of their children, 
were eager for information. Several of this class will come 
to Iowa this year ; others, having to wait till they sell their 
property, will come next year. 

Mechanics and capitalists, professional men and owners 
of factories, in fact from all classes, wrote to me or came 
to see me. 

My mission to Holland, I am sure, will bear good fruit, 
and will bring to our noble State well educated, enterpris- 
ing, and industrious families. Already several have ar- 
rived, some of whom have settled in Marion, and others in 
Sioux County, Iowa. 

Before my departure from Holland, I had notices in- 
serted in some newspapers, giving my address in Iowa, and 
offering to answer all letters. Not a week passes but what 
I receive letters, eagerly inquiring for information. 

The pamphlets published by your Board and translated 
into the Dutch language, also the biennial message of our 
worthy Governor Merrill, have done a great deal of good 
and were read with much interest.^^^ 

Shortly after Hospers returned to Pella he re- 
signed his mayorship and in May, 1871, he left the 
city to cast in his fortunes with the Sioux County 
colony which he had been so instrumental in found- 
ing. He became at once the leading spirit among 
the pioneer farmers of Holland and Nassau town- 
ships, a position which he held almost until his death 
in 1901. He continued to be the chief promoter of 
the settlement of Sioux County lands. As notary 
public, counsellor at law, member of the county 
board of supervisors, and insurance and land agent, 



154 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

he stood out as the leader in the official and business 
life of the young settlement of Hollanders. 

The State of Iowa had thus taken an active share 
in urging the best class of European emigrants to 
buy its fertile acres. No better man than Hospers 
could have been selected to attract attention to the 
large unoccupied areas in Iowa. Pamphlets on the 
resources of Iowa, printed by legislative authority in 
the Dutch language, especially conduced to the at- 
tainment of this purpose. An early result was that 
many Hollanders forsook Wisconsin in the years 
1870 and 1871 to undertake the life of pioneers in 
Sioux County. Indeed, the coming of Hollanders 
and perhaps of a few Americans increased the pop- 
ulation, estimated at one hundred and ten in 1869, to 
five hundred and seventy-six in 1870.^^- 

While much was done to promote immigration 
to the Dutch colony through the medium of Pella's 
Weekhlad (with which Hospers remained on intimate 
terms after his departure from Pella), and indirectly 
through other Dutch newspapers in America, tlie re- 
ports of men who were pleased with the Dutch col- 
onies in America must also have had considerable 
influence. The Rev. Dr. Cohen Stuart, delegate from 
The Netherlands to the Evangelical Alliance at New 
York, was induced by Henry Hospers to visit Orange 
City before his return to Holland. This gentleman 
afterwards drew on his experiences in Sioux County 
and declared at a special meeting that emigration to 
America was good for America's uncultivated, fer- 
tile fields, and good for Holland: the man who re- 



HENRY HOSPERS AND IMMIGRATION 155 

mained in Holland would have more air to breathe, 
and the man of industry, perseverance, and probity 
who went to America would enjoy there a compara- 
tive measure of prosperity. He urged further that 
Holland should get into closer touch with the inhab- 
itants of Dutch settlements in America.^^^ 

In the year 1874 Hospers began the publication 
of a Dutch newspaper at Orange City. He frankly 
declared to the world that he would not have done so 
if 'Hhe good God had not placed here 500 families 
of people who, though living for the most part in 
mean huts, are yet without a care and own a very 
rich and fertile soil, so plentiful that a thousand 
more Dutch families could be enjoying this gift of 
God." And he asked: "Would it not be unchari- 
table to conceal the advantages which we enjoy here, 
not to reveal that this is a place where many ambi- 
tious Christian Netherlanders may provide their chil- 
dren an independent living? And to contradict and 
expose to public contempt the many misrepresenta- 
tions which covetous speculators have circulated in 
Holland : see there a reason why we have the courage 
to issue a 'Volksvriendje' [Little Friend of the Peo- 
ple]." 

It was, therefore, to attract the attention of emi- 
grants to this magnificent spot on God's earth and 
to advertise its advantages far and wide that Hos- 
pers sent his little newspaper into the world. Be 
Volksvriend at once filled a want, because the editor 
received numerous letters of inquiry from Holland 
every week asking him to answer the question : 



156 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

"Where shall I settle?" Hospers sent copies of the 
first issue to various newspapers in Holland and 
elsewhere, requesting the editors to read and copy 
his editorials in the interest of emigration to Amer- 
ica, also assuring them that he would send references 
as to his responsibility to show that confidence might 
be reposed in what he wrote. 

Hospers recommended that the colonists of 
Orange City should organize a "Citizen's Club", as 
the Dutch of Holland, Michigan, had done to aid the 
emigration movement in The Netherlands and to 
protect and promote the interests of immigrants. In 
every issue of his paper he advertised thousands of 
acres of Sioux County land."* 

In 1875 there appeared from the press in Holland 
a small book compiled by a Dutch resident of Iowa. 
The writer designed it as a contribution to enable 
emigrants to understand political and economic con- 
ditions in the United States and especially in Iowa. 
He declared that experience had taught him repeat- 
edly "how little trust can be placed in most reports 
on North America, and how the truth is most often 
sacrificed to the unscrupulous desire to encourage 
immigration and promote the country's welfare 
without thought or concern whether such colored 
and exaggerated pictures should render hundreds of 
families miserable for life." 

The same writer alleged that the American press 
and even State Boards of Immigration used all sorts 
of lawful and unlawful means to attain their ends, 
and were no better than the railroad projectors who 



HENRY HOSPERS AND IMMIGRATION 157 

flooded the European money markets with fine- 
sounding promises which sooner or later proved to 
be worthless. "For my part," he declared, "the 
longer I live here, the more regard I come to enter- 
tain for my countrymen, and I myself have learned 
too well how many disappointments and deceptions 
one is exposed to, not to do my duty. ' ' In conclusion 
he said : ' ' Therefore, when I make a mistake, I do 
so in good faith, and to be able to say this conscien- 
tiously is surely no daily occurrence in this country. ' ' 

This writer came into correspondence with Henry 
Hospers who invited him to visit the Dutch colony. 
He did so, and found it necessary to give an accu- 
rate and complete account of the Hollanders in Iowa. 
He was positively convinced, he says, "that in all of 
North America there is no place where the Holland 
emigrant has better chances to succeed and is less 
exposed to disappointment or deception than in flour- 
ishing Orange City. ' ' "^ 

In 1875 Henry Hospers caused advertisements 
relative to Sioux County lands to be inserted in sev- 
eral Dutch newspapers, and in order to leave no 
doubt as to his trustworthiness and responsibility 
he also presented affidavits signed by two county 
officers, a minister, and a doctor. A characteristic 
of all the letters which Hospers received from Wis- 
consin, Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, 
and Holland in reply to these advertisements was 
the unmistakable desire of the writers to leave their 
homes and find better ones elsewhere. Hollanders 
were so closely packed in the larger cities such as 



158 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Kalamazoo, Cliicago, 
Milwaukee, Rochester, New York, and Paterson, the 
prices of land were so high, and money was so scarce 
during hard times not only among farmers but also 
among townspeople, that an outlet had to be found. 
Hundreds were ambitious to do better for themselves 
and their children. To them Orange City, Iowa, was 
offered as an excellent opportunity : land was adver- 
tised at from five dollars to twenty dollars per acre 
on easy terms, and special attention was called to 
the proximity of a railroad, an advantage of which, 
it was pointed out, the first Dutch inhabitants of 
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pella had been deprived 
for many years.^^® 

In September, 1875, a committee of six men from 
Michigan inspected northern Sioux County and 
southern Lyon County. They returned well satis- 
fied with their visit to this beautiful district. The 
Orange City colony far surpassed their wildest ex- 
pectations, for it had railroad connections with St. 
Paul, Sioux City, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, 
New York, and New Orleans. Hospers thereupon 
urged all prospective emigrants to send similar com- 
mittees of trustworthy men, and he prophesied that 
they could come to but one conclusion : "We are com- 
ing! The half has not been told us!" Throughout 
these years Hospers spared no trouble or expense to 
enlarge the Dutch colony and promote its prosper- 
ity.^" 

Shortly after the Michigan men had visited north- 
western Iowa to secure land for a colony, Hospers 
declared that within twelve years Sioux County 



HENRY HOSPERS AND IMMIGRATION 159 

would be the most populous Holland settlement in 
the United States, and he also informed the public 
that steps had been taken to buy twenty-five thous- 
and acres of land for another colony. In fact, ten 
thousand acres were purchased near Doon, just 
across the northern boundary of Sioux County, and 
were occupied by Michigan emigrants in the spring 
of 1876. A number also settled at Beloit in Lyon 
County. Simon Kuyper journeyed to Michigan in 
February to interest the Dutch in emigration. Judg- 
ing from letters of inquiry Hospers expected a large 
accession of Hollanders in March, 1876, from Mich- 
igan, Illinois, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, 
and Minnesota. In response to numerous inquiries 
he announced his intention to buy sixteen sections 
of land in the Rock River valley, in the northwestern 
part of the county. He received a letter also from 
certain Hollanders who were tired of living among 
the Mormons in Utah.^^^ 

Thus in every possible way Henry Hospers ex- 
erted himself to attract his Dutch compatriots to 
the settlement which claimed Orange City as the cen- 
ter of its community life — he made its name and 
fame known among all the Hollanders of America 
and Europe. For years reports of its excellent ad- 
vantages as an agricultural region continued to be 
circulated, and their truth could not be disputed. But 
despite all this tireless industry and perseverance 
on the part of the leader of the colony another 
agency for a series of years robbed the promoter, 
his neighbors, and the colony of the prosperity 
which thev merited. 



XXIV 

LOCUST RAVAGES AND YEARS OF 
HARDSHIP 

Most memorable in the minds of the Dutch pioneers 
of Sioux County are the years from 1873 to 1879 
inclusive — a period which introduced the Holland- 
ers to one of the worst pests of the whole trans- 
Mississippi region and revealed once more the ox- 
like patience so characteristic of their nation. A 
review of that period, so deeply burned into the 
memories of many of the people still living in the 
northwestern counties of Iowa, will show how dis- 
astrous were the depredations committed by insects 
which were at one time more common than they are 
to-day. 

Occupying the greater portion of three townships, 
the Hollanders spent the first spring months of 1870 
preparing small areas of their widely scattered 
homesteads for cultivation. They hastened to trans- 
form the prairie into fields. And so in the autumn 
of 1870 the Hollanders of Sioux County gathered 
from their fresh-plowed acres a goodly harvest of 
wheat, "sod corn", potatoes, and vegetables suffi- 
cient for themselves and the needs of their live stock. 
Wliere but a few months before there had been no 
sign of a human habitation, in August the little 

160 



LOCUST RAVAGES 161 

pioneer houses of wood and prairie sod met the eye 
everywhere : hundreds of acres of the wild but beau- 
tiful prairie soil had been broken, and much of it had 
been planted. Many of the new settlers were men 
with means sufficient to make good improvements. 
They had brought many head of horses, cattle and 
hogs, farm implements, and household goods; but 
most of them had barely enough to make a start in 
the world. The energy, however, which all dis- 
played during those early months clearly indicated 
their intention to build up a rich and prosperous 
agricultural community. 

Success crowned their industry with more boun- 
tiful crops in the harvest months of the years 1871 
and 1872. The uninhabited, uncultivated prairies of 
1869 had now been made to blossom for the use of 
man. Once without roads, without railroads, without 
human habitations, within two brief years the Hol- 
landers had all of these improvements, even though 
they were crude and primitive. The first settlers 
had each year welcomed fresh accessions of their 
fellow-countrymen from Pella, Michigan, Minnesota, 
Wisconsin, and The Netherlands. With only a few 
exceptions these new colonists were men of very 
limited means. But in one season they expected to 
bring from forty to eighty acres under cultivation, 
and thus lay the foundation for the achievement of 
what they had reason to believe would soon be a state 
of financial independence. To plow and otherwise 
prepare and sow and harvest their acres they needed 
capital for the purchase of horses and harness, 



162 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

wagons, plows, and harrows, and all the other im- 
plements necessary to the farmer's calling. 

The settlers, therefore, bought their machinery 
and stock on credit — an evil unavoidably bound up 
with the desire to cultivate land which lent itself so 
easily to improvement. The abundant yield of har- 
vests in 1870, 1871, and 1872 warranted the pur- 
chase of such necessities, and also naturally induced 
many to go into debt to obtain articles which were 
not necessary for present purposes. Merchants and 
agents who solicited orders for agricultural imple- 
ments gladly sold on credit and accepted notes be- 
cause they had no doubts of the honesty of their 
Dutch customers or of the possibilities of Sioux 
County farms. ^^^ 

In the spring of the year 1873, many Dutch pio- 
neers entertained hopes and plans for the improve- 
ment of their homes and farm buildings. Those who 
still lived in sod houses felt the need of better, more 
sanitary dwellings. Thus far they had succeeded. 
On the strength of an experience covering the past 
three years and with dreams of future prosperity 
many rebuilt their houses, and others made exten- 
sive repairs. Early in the summer they feasted their 
eyes upon luxuriant fields of wheat, flax, corn, and 
oats. Such a glorious sight seemed to warrant the 
building of new granaries. 

The colonists had already denied themselves and 
their families many things ; but now they felt justi- 
fied in buying necessary clothing for their wives and 
children — the harvest would pay for all. Indeed, 
dealers in merchandise and lumber and farm imple- 



i 



LOCUST RAVAGES 163 

inents — all eagerly sold on credit, for the Dutch 
farmer generally kept his word. And finally, some 
of these colonist land owners acquired a taste for 
speculation. ^' Would it not be a pity", they argued, 
' ' if we miss this fine chance to buy quarter-sections 
of excellent railway land adjacent to our own home- 
steads?" Surely the opportunity to invest in rail- 
road lands which had just been placed on the market 
appealed to many. And so they bought on credit at 
a very low figure, rather than run the risk of being 
compelled later on to buy from speculators. Thus 
again they subscribed their names to promissory 
notes. Debtor and creditor alike were ready to look 
upon those promising fields of grain as security suffi- 
cient to satisfy all obligations. 

Then destruction, sure and swift, came to blast 
their hopes. The Hollanders had counted their bear 
skins too soon. They had been building air-castles ; 
for like a clap of thunder out of a clear sky, myriads 
of locusts flying southwestward from the ravaged 
corn-fields of Minnesota descended like large flakes 
of snow upon the gardens, haylands, and grain-fields 
of the settlers. Within a few days they devoured 
in some instances entire fields of grain, vegetables, 
and even weeds and leaves of trees and shrubbery; 
and when it seemed as if hardly a blade of grass 
would remain to appease their insatiable hunger 
they took flight and left behind them a veritable 
desert. In some fields they had not been so raven- 
ous as in others, for they had been rather unevenly 
distributed upon the surface of the country. Never- 
theless, the Hollanders spent many melancholy days. 



164 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

'klays of sadness but also daj^s of prayer", and when 
they had gathered in the harvest of 1873 they had 
scarcely enough to supply their needs. The hard 
labor of the year had been swept away as by a 
breath, and the reward for which they had endured 
privation was snatched out of their very hands. 

Although some were not as hard hit as others, 
the colonists gathered on an average only one-fourth 
of a crop. This, coupled witli low prices, resulted in 
extremely straitened circumstances. The loss fell 
most heavily on those who were least able to bear 
it — homesteaders who were raising their first crop 
and were entirely dependent upon it for support. A 
great many were rendered destitute : they were with- 
out clothing or food sufficient for a month's supply. 
Others had barely sufficient to carry them through 
the winter, much less to tide them over till another 
harvest. 

Reports of their deplorable condition were tele- 
graphed from Sioux City to various parts of the 
country, and although considerably exaggerated, 
they fairly revealed the destitution which prevailed 
in the northwestern counties of Iowa. In December 
N. B. Baker, Adjutant-General of the State of Iowa, 
visited Sioux County in person to investigate the 
condition of the settlers. Later he distributed to 
them money and clothing which had been collected 
and received everywhere throughout the State by 
local homesteaders' relief committees. The Hol- 
landers of Pella sent thousands of bushels of corn 
and several carloads of coal.^*° 



LOCUST RAVAGES 165 

Henry Hospers, chairman of the Sioux County 
board of supervisors, sent out letters asking for 
"provisions, money, clothing (even half- worn cloth- 
ing), ladies' and childrens' wear, and blankets", es- 
pecially for settlers in the northern and western 
parts of the county where the suffering was most 
marked. Although a Sioux City newspaper in- 
veighed against this policy, pronouncing " it a swindle 
on the people of Iowa, and a disgrace to the inde- 
pendent yeomanry of Sioux County to have Mr. Hos- 
pers begging for them, while they live in Sioux Coun- 
ty, a land of plenty, and have the right and lawful 
authority to help themselves", conditions in all of 
northwestern Iowa were really so bad that the State 
as well as the people of Iowa contributed many thou- 
sands of dollars to enable the unfortunate settlers to 
purchase the necessities of life and to secure seed 
for spring sowing.^" 

Both houses of the General Assembly of the State 
of Iowa considered the question of the destitution in 
the northwestern counties. Governor Carpenter 
placed before them all the facts relative to the con- 
dition of the people, including a resolution of the 
board of supervisors of Sioux County and a letter 
from Mr. Hospers."^ 

A committee of five legislators, appointed to in- 
vestigate the reports of destitution, performed their 
work thoroughly, as is shown by their excellent re- 
port: 

Your Committee visited the counties of Sioux, O'Brien 
and Osceola, and while absent also gave audience to repre- 



3 66 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

sentative delegations of citizens from Lyon, Plymouth and 
other counties. Timely notice of public meetings at Orange 
City in Sioux county, Sibley in Osceola county, and Shel- 
don in 'Brien county, was given, and at each of the points 
named your Committee met from two hundred and fifty to 
three hundred and fifty of the anxious and distressed men 
of the afflicted district. Considering the sparsely populated 
character of the country, these audiences were a matter of 
surprise to your Committee. It only requires to be stated 
that many of those in attendance came from twenty-five to 
forty miles across the prairies to meet your representatives, 
braving the dangers of the season, augmented by the fact 
that many were thinly clad, and that but few had means to 
buy a meal of victuals, to fully indicate to your honorable 
body the painful interest felt by the people as to the action 
of the State in the matter of affording them the relief the 
extremity of their situation demands. 

It is a matter of satisfaction to your Committee to say 
that the men met at these gatherings gave every indication 
of being as deserving, intelligent, industrious, provident a 
class of citizens as would likely be brought together in any 
quarter of the State. They impressed your Committee as 
being men not likely to depend upon charity, or as willing 
to accept charity, when by any means they could work out 
their own deliverance. 

In addition to eliciting facts intended to satisfy the 
General Assembly as to the necessity for State aid, your 
Committee carefully examined the question as to the ability 
of the counties to afford the assistance needed. The facts 
thus brought out are briefly incorporated in subsequent 
paragraphs of this report, and it is thought that they demon- 
strate with the utmost clearness the total inability of the 



LOCUST EAVAGES 167 

local authorities to meet the demands of the existing emer- 
gency. 

Then follow brief reports on the history and 
finances of Sioux, Osceola, O'Brien, and Lyon coun- 
ties: 

The four counties named emhraee the heart of the desti- 
tute district ; and while other counties to more or less extent 
suffered from the invasion of grasshoppers, and other un- 
usual inflictions, your Committee did not deem a rigid ex- 
amination of other localities essential to the discharge of the 
duties entrusted to their hands. In the counties specifically 
referred to, however, the Committee labored to develop the 
substantial facts, feeling assured that the test here applied 
would answer as relative truth as to other and neighboring 
counties, and afford ample information upon which to base 
intelligent action on the part of the General Assembly. 

The Committee then referred to the unexpected 
devastation of the fields of the settlers, and contin- 
ued: 

Their pluck sustained them for a time, and even yet a 
man is occasionally met who refused to consult the relief 
committee. But the great majority in the more afflicted 
portion of the unfortunate district have been compelled to 
accept aid — for life is more than pride. Many who have 
thus far got along without aid have sold their last bushel 
of grain, and are now quite powerless to seed their land 
without assistance from some source. Either in the matter 
of subsistence or seed, propositions for relief have uniform- 
ly been the last to find acceptance. 

Your Committee spent some time in riding over the great 
sweeps of prairie, snow-clad and desolate, visiting the peo- 
ple in their houses. None of their residences are extrava- 



168 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

gant, and seldom embrace more than one room. A majority 
of them are neat, though rough, having little furniture 
aside from such articles as the man of the house could 
manufacture. Some of the houses are made of sod, with 
straw roofs, in which floors other than the hard ground may 
be absent. A few pounds of flour, or a little meal, with pos- 
sibly a little pork of some kind, generally comprised the 
stock of provisions — with no hope beyond the good hearts 
of the more fortunate people of Iowa for fresh supplies. 
Nevertheless the people are generally cheerful; and if any 
one expects to find a wail of perpetual lamentation he 
might as well look outside "the grasshopper district" as 
within it. The men and women there stand up squarely, in 
the full dignity of their muscular development, and say, 
' ' We only ask for a reasonable chance for our lives ! ' ' And 
they evidently have faith sufficient in the people of Iowa to 
believe that this they shall have. 

The relief supplies as far as your Committee could 
judge, have been wisely used ; and that they have prevented 
actual starvation, your Committee are constrained to be- 
lieve. It is all important that these supplies should be con- 
tinued ; and your Committee feel impelled to say that they 
can hardly be continued too liberally. 

The great concern of the settlers at the present time is 
seed ; and it was the anxiety of the people on this score that 
brought so many from near and far to meet your Committee 
in the gatherings before alluded to. Their painful anxiety 
over this great issue is easily discerned ; and their suspense, 
in view of the near approach of seeding time, may be put 
down as among their chief sufferings. Your Committee esti- 
mate that aid is needed to seed over 100,000 acres of land, 
and while it is not regarded as possible to afford all the re- 
lief desired, the Committee is clearly of the opinion that an 



LOCUST RAVAGES 169 

appropriation should be made to meet the emergency to the 
extent possible. 

The Committee reported that the land in north- 
western Iowa was certainly as good as any in the 
State, and that the settlers had ''unbounded confi- 
dence in their ability to succeed". To enable these 
people to seed their lands, to defray the expense of 
purchasing, transporting, and distributing the seed, 
and to provide feed for their teams (generally re- 
duced in flesh and unable to perform the required 
labor without grain), an appropriation to the amount 
of $120,000 was recommended, the committee sug- 
gesting that this amount be offered in the form of a 
loan, a policy most acceptable to the settlers, as they 
emphatically stated they did not desire a donation. 
The recommendation was made ''not simply as a 
matter of humanity, not simply as a matter of duty 
to a suffering people ; but as a matter of justice to 
men who are engaged in the work of reducing one of 
the fairest portions of Iowa from the wilderness — 
as a matter of profit to the State at large." ^*^ Ac- 
cordingly, in the month of February, 1874, the Gen- 
eral Assembly appropriated $50,000 for the purchase 
of seed, grain, and vegetables, and provided for the 
appointment of commissioners to distribute articles 
of relief and disburse the money."* 

Though some of the Dutch settlers had lost more 
heavily than others, it is reported that when promis- 
sory notes became due, even those who had not suf- 
fered severely from the locust visitation invented 
pitiful grasshopper stories as a means of stalling 



170 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

their creditors. Undoubtedly the grasshopper never 
had more debts loaded upon him than in the year 
1873. All alike hoped that the next harvest would 
provide, and so the payment of debts was postponed 
till that better time should arrive. 

The ardor of the Dutch farmers was not cooled 
by the disaster of 1873. They proceeded to break 
more prairie, for the railroad lands which they had 
bought needed to be plowed. In the spring of 1874 
they purchased as much farm machinery as at any 
previous time. They sowed thousands of acres with 
wheat, and in June, as in the year before, they anti- 
cipated a tremendous return for their toil. 

One Sunday morning in July, while the settlers 
were at church, a north wind again bore countless 
millions of locusts from Minnesota. Millions on mil- 
lions of the insects poured down upon a strip of 
country estimated at from forty to sixty miles in 
length. They covered the earth so thickly that it 
seemed as if every vestige of vegetation would be 
destroyed at once. "With the exception of oats and 
early wheat which had been reaped, one pioneer de- 
clared that ' ' by Monday morning all our crops were 
stripped and gone". On Thursday morning when 
the sky was cleared of clouds and a wind sprang up 
from the north, the swarming myriads of locusts took 
wing for the south, and disappeared almost entirely 
within two hours. 

Reports of this visit of the locusts were despatch- 
ed from East Orange and Hospers in Sioux County, 
and although the loss entailed was not so great as 



LOCUST RAVAGES 171 

that of the previous year, and although some fields 
were entirely unmolested, hardly one-half of the 
crop was harvested. Indian corn produced an aver- 
age yield of five bushels to the acre. This loss, 
together with the low market prices paid for farm 
products, pressed so hard upon the Hollanders that 
some gave up in discouragement and departed, 
while others were ready and eager to sell their lands 
for a merely nominal sum of money. An old settler 
subsequently related that *'in one instance a man got 
so disgusted that he sold his 80 acres for $225, throw- 
ing in a span of mules, wagon, and cow." ^*^ 

The devastations wrought by the Colorado or 
Eocky Mountain locusts, as they were called, were 
so widespread in certain Iowa and Minnesota coun- 
ties that Congress passed an act which made it law- 
ful for homestead and preemption settlers to leave 
and be absent from their lands in those counties un- 
til May 1, 1875, ''under such regulations as to proof 
of the same as the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office may prescribe." The act further pro- 
vided that during such absence no adverse rights 
should attach to the lands, and settlers should be 
allowed ''to resume and perfect their settlements as 
though no such absence had been enjoyed or al- 
lowed", an exemption which was extended "to those 
making settlements in 1874, and suffering the same 
destruction of crops as those making settlement of 
1873, or any previous year." "® 

Eeferring to the exodus from Kansas and Ne- 
braska, which was witnessed every day on the public 



172 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

thoroughfares, as abundant evidence of the discour- 
agement of many citizens in those States and in 
parts of Iowa and Minnesota, an editorial writer in 
one of the leading newspapers of Iowa concluded 
as follows: 

Providence does not intend that the largrest tract of rich 
agricultural land in the world shall be devastated and ren- 
dered uninhabitable. These marauding insects were in- 
tended for the barren mountain fastnesses, and if occasion- 
ally they break over their bounds, it should be considered 
like all other demonstrations of Pro\ddence. Without 
winds the atmosphere would become stagnant and destruc- 
tive of life, yet they often destroy man's fairest fabrics. 
Rains come to sustain animal and vegetable life, yet they 
frequently sweep away man and his works. Electricity per- 
forms many and valuable agencies in nature's economy, 
still it at times fills the mind of man with terror at its de- 
structive power. Fear not, this rich inheritance will pro- 
duce enough for man, even though once in a decade, locusts, 
drouth or tlood should partially sweep the crops away. 
Study more thoroughly their history and habits, and pre- 
pare, like the ^lormons, for the emergencies that beset the 
land adopted for our homes. It is not probable any part of 
Iowa will be disturbed again for seven or ten years. In the 
meantime, instead of all wheat or corn our farmera will 
have a greater variety of crops and stock on which to rely 
if any branch of their business should be devoured by in- 
sects, drouth or flood. ^*' 

Discouragement was so epidemic among the Hol- 
landers of Sioux County in the fall of 1874 that, had 
it not been for the wise counsel and cheerfulness of 
Henry Hospers, Rev. Seine Bolks, and other influ- 



LOCUST RAVAGES 173 

ential men, the colony would probably have disap- 
peared as a Dutch community. During those days 
of gloom there appeared in Hospers' Dutch newspa- 
per a lengthy editorial, the purpose of which was 
to counteract the bad effects of the locust scourge 
and to exhort the people not to lose courage. "Pres- 
ent conditions", wrote the editor, "do not detract 
from the indisputable and generally recognized 
truth that we have received here a bit of soil which 
cannot be surpassed in richness and fertility, in 
healthfulness of climate, and in its suitability for 
Hollanders. Neither grasshoppers nor inevitable 
debt which now oppresses us can belie this." 

Then Hospers proceeded to draw a picture of the 
progress of the community: 

More than 400 families have settled here; more than 
15,000 acres are under cultivation ; fifteen neat frame school- 
houses grace various parts of our county; good roads have 
been laid out; the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad runs 
squarely across our colony. East Orange and Hospers are 
two flourishing stations in our settlement. Orange City, 
the county seat and center of our colony, has a pretty 
eourt-honse, large church parsonage, five stores, two hotels, 
and forty residences: see there what has been done in five 
years ' time. 

Can any other settlement offer a better record? Dark 
shadows, wrestlings, difficulties, adversity, and much priva- 
tion also comprised a chapter in our colony's history. To 
deny this would be foolish, and whatever the discourage- 
ment we now experience : we had expected worse ; and it is 
far less terrible than that of the first colonists of Pella, 
Michigan and Wisconsin. 



174 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

And in conclusion the writer asked: 
Is our settlement inherently less valuable than former- 
ly? Can we not reasonably expect a rich and blessed fu- 
ture? The Lord who planted this colony will cause it to 
flourish. Debts may oppress us, but they cannot deprive us 
of our fertile lands! And how much good we have! We 
enjoy good health — we have an abundance of the neces- 
saries of life. Wherever else we might be, we should be 
burdened with debt there no less than here. We conclude 
with the earnest solicitation that all who wish to emigrate 
should come to see us ! 

Hospers also strongly urged all his fellow-col- 
onists to deal honestly, carefully, and judiciously 
and to pay off their debts as rapidly as possible. 
He suggested that they should tirst look after the 
needs of their families and their live stock, and buy 
seed for the next year's crop; then pay what they 
owed their neighbors in town and country ; and last- 
ly remove their written promises to pay for farm 
machinery. Early in the year 1875, to show that 
they were not the only sufferers, Sioux County Hol- 
landers were requested to donate what they could 
to alleviate distress among tlie Hollanders in Kan- 
sas."' 

In 1875 the Hollanders were blessed with a splen- 
did harvest, although considerable grain, especially 
wheat, was destroyed by storms and heavy rains. 
Additional loss was occasioned hj prairie fires which 
often spread into stubble fields consuming stacks of 
grain. Farmers were thus taught not to burn their 
prairie grass, not only on account of the danger of 



LOCUST RAVAGES 175 

property loss and punishment according to law, but 
also because "it makes our prairie hills look so bar- 
ren — besides grass catches snow and prevents rob- 
beries, and snow-covered prairies are healthier and 
warmer." Though the hated, omnivorous grass- 
hoppers were hatched from eggs deposited in the 
land in 1874, they did not cause much damage in the 
summer of 1875. The era of better times served to 
cheer the population as nothing else could, but it 
also made creditors more clamorous. Newspapers 
in the colony contained numerous notices not only 
requesting the payment of debts but also advertis- 
ing sheriff's sales of land for unpaid taxes. 

Discouragement still prevailed in many quarters, 
and an Orange City editor advised farmers not to 
dispose of their homes too hurriedly, adding: "In 
a year or two you will have the best land that sun 
ever shone upon, particularly in the northern part 
of the county. Our land is just beginning to receive 
attention from Eastern homeseekers, and soon this 
raw, wild land will be converted into miniature gar- 
dens. Churches and schools will also come to you 
in a little while. Only live so that your name will 
not appear upon every slip of paper — we mean a 
note — so that you will not be forced to sell your 
wheat until you can get a good price, and then you 
will be happy and prosperous." "^ 

Hope was at low ebb, however, among the Dutch 
pioneers during the winter of 1875. Once more in 
the spring and early summer of 1876 they had visions 
of an abundant harvest, when once more in June a 



176 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

plague of locusts settled as a blight upon their fields. 
For ten days they ravaged the farms, playing havoc 
with the crops of some settlers while scarcely touch- 
ing the fields of others. So serious was the damage 
done that settlers in the northern part of Sioux 
County emigrated to escape forever a pest which 
had recurred too often. Everything possible was 
done to inspire the disaffected Hollanders with 
courage and patience, but very often without avail. 

In June, 1877, the locust eggs which had been 
laid in the soil the year before had hatched so plen- 
tifully that practically all small grain crops were 
destroyed. Driven to desperation some Hollanders 
tried every reasonable means to exterminate the pest, 
but without success. They constructed a sort of 
large sheet-iron pan sixteen feet long, three feet 
wide, with one side two feet high, and into it they 
poured tar and petroleum. As this apparatus was 
drawn over the surface of the fields, millions of 
grasshoppers flew into it and were killed, and yet 
the pest was not appreciably diminished. Despite 
wide-spread devastations in 1877, the Hollanders 
were thankful to have enough left to supply their 
immediate needs. 

In 1878 the hopes and labors of the pioneers of 
Sioux County were rewarded with a heavy crop, 
although considerable damage had been done by vio- 
lent rain storms which flattened out many fields of 
grain so that reaping and harvesting had to be ef- 
fected by means of grass-mowers and hay rakes. 
When the dreaded locusts arrived again for their 



LOCUST RAVAGES 177 

annual visit in September, little harm could be done : 
the worst they could do was to deposit their eggs. 
When the drouth of 1879 had successfully hatched 
these, and after furious storms had caused much loss 
in June and July, the deadly enemy had left little of 
wheat, oats, and other small grain crops. Follow- 
ing the departure of this locust brood, there came 
a terrific hurricane to cap the climax of the season's 
direful destruction.'^^" 

Such a gauntlet of years of bad fortune tried 
the mettle of the Hollanders and required nothing 
short of heroism. To the present generation it ap- 
pears as if those Hollanders who survived the ter- 
rible ordeal and clung to their homesteads possessed 
superhuman patience. Their descendants and the 
farmers of to-day who have never undergone such 
harrowing pioneer experiences can perhaps never 
fully realize how human beings could steel their 
hearts to endure such stinging defeats for a series of 
years and not surrender. To be sure, many of the 
settlers did not resist the temptation to sell their 
homesteads for a trifle, and very many who remained 
did so only because they could do nothing else. 
Farmers hopelessly in debt, business men with 
thousands of dollars credited upon the pages of their 
books of account, and money borrowed at extortion- 
ate rates of interest upon the best security — such 
were some of the facts which characterized the first 
years of financial stringency among the Dutch 
pioneers of the Orange City colony. 

The present generation of farmers in that pros- 



178 THE HOLLANDERS OP IOWA 

perous comminiity will never know how much their 
fathers owed to those few sturdy business men who 
labored hard, kept their community from starvation, 
and maintained their own credit. Had it not been 
for the ministrations of such leaders as the pastor 
of the colony, Rev. Bolks, and their principal finan- 
cial agent, Henry Hospers, very many Hollanders 
who later prospered would have surrendered their 
holdings in disgiist and sought homes elsewhere. 

During the lirst decade of its history, therefore, 
the Dutch colonists in Sioux County passed through 
a period of trials and tribulations sucli as few pion- 
eers liave been called upon to bear. They saw their 
population dwindling in numbers, but their leaders 
never lost faith in the quality of their soil and be- 
lieved that God would yet bless them with rich har- 
vests : their judgment was vindicated. Those who 
endured the locust depredations as they came, and 
remained upon their farms have never since found 
any reason to regret it. On the contrary, they or 
their children are now the proud possessors of lands 
which money can hardly buy, and many who left 
Sioux County then to seek better fortune elsewhere 
bewail the fact that they did not stay to invest their 
labor and capital in land which has come to be the 
most valuable in the State of Iowa. 



XXV 

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF CxROWTH IN THE 
ORANGE CITY COLONY 

DuKiNG the decade from 1870 to 1880 the growth of 
the new settlement in Sioux County was not especial- 
ly encouraging, and yet the population of Sioux 
County increased from 575 in 1870 to 2872 in 1873, 
to 3220 in 1875, and to 5426 in 1880. This was 
indeed a rapid increase, considering the destruction 
of crops year after year. How many of the inhab- 
itants of the county were Hollanders it would be 
difficult to estimate. Judging from the fact that 
the number of foreign-born Netherlanders in Iowa, a 
total of 4513 in 1870, had risen to only 4743 in 
1880, few foreign-born Hollanders settled in Marion 
and Sioux counties. Many American-born Holland- 
ers, however, had immigrated to Sioux County from 
other States of the Middle West.^'^ 

The establishment of Holland Township gave a 
decided impetus to the settlement of vacant public 
lands in Sioux County. Of the inhabitants in 1870, 
only one hundred and sixteen were foreign-born Hol- 
landers ; but these with Pella-born Hollanders prob- 
ably comprised a majority of the population. The 
village of Orange City contained fifty inhabitants in 
1871 and ninety-six in 1873, when there were also two 

179 



180 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

other small villages, East Orange and Hospers, sta- 
tions on the St. Paul and Sioux City Eailway. Hol- 
land and Nassau townships contained a majority of 
the people of Sioux County in 1873 (about 1500 
souls) most of whom were Dutch. In 1872 Orange 
City was selected as the county seat.^" 

The Hollanders were reported to have taken the 
greater portion of five townships in 1870 ; and a 
traveler afterward roughly estimated the size of 
the Dutch settlement at fifteen miles square, though 
much of the land still belonged to railroad companies 
and speculators. A Keokuk newspaper man de- 
scribed his visit to Sioux County in 1874 as follows : 

Five hundred families now live about the county seat, 
Orange City. These Hollanders are thrifty, industrious 
people, honest and sober, and with the accessions to their 
number which are constantly being made from the old coun- 
try, will make Sioux County bloom and blossom with wheat, 
etc., if not with roses. The Dutch have taken Sioux County 
as effectually as they have Holland. Since going in they 
have changed the county seat, which the old manipulators 
do not like. They are building a new court house, new 
bridges, churches, etc. They are going in for a new deal 
generally. Hospers is chairman of the Board of County 
Commissioners, as he would seem to be entitled, being the 
father of the colony. Betten is county Treasurer, another 
Bella Dutchman, and Dingman keeps the hotel, runs the 
mail bus, etc.^^^ 

During the early years of the settlement the Hol- 
landers transformed the appearance of the country 
so that what had once been an ocean-like expanse of 



GROWTH IN THE ORANGE CITY COLONY 181 

prairie became dotted here and there with little 
groves. Nearly every homesteader planted from one 
to five acres of trees — a work which entitled him to 
have one hundred dollars for every acre of trees de- 
ducted for ten years from the assessed valuation of 
all his real and personal property, provided he did 
not plant trees farther than eight feet apart and kept 
them in a healthy and growing condition. Similarly, 
those who set out fruit trees not farther than thirty 
feet apart were to be exempted for five years from 
taxation on fifty dollars for each acre so planted. 
Thus tax-payers among the Hollanders received a 
powerful incentive to plant many acres with forest 
and fruit trees.^^* 

This offer of a premium or bounty by the State, 
as well as the need of some protection against the 
icy blasts and blizzards of winter and the heat of 
summer, stimulated the planting of trees such as cot- 
tonwoods, soft maples, box-elders, Lombardy pop- 
lars, and willows, all of which grew rapidly upon 
Sioux County soil. As a rule the Dutch pioneers 
planted these trees to the north and west of their 
houses and yards. When little artificial groves be- 
gan to appear upon the homesteads, the bleak prairie 
for miles in every direction lost much of its distinc- 
tively monotonous aspect. 

The legislature of the State of Iowa desired to 
promote not only the production of timber, so that 
fence posts and fence rails might later be obtained in 
abundance, but also wished to encourage the growth 
of hedges as an excellent substitute for rail fences 



182 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

and barbed wire. As the land in Sioux County be- 
came settled and more and more was brought under 
cultivation, great damage resulted to growing crops 
from the invasions of live stock. To protect the 
crops the Sioux County board of supervisors sub- 
mitted to the voters a State law which permitted 
property owners to distrain ''stock taken in the act 
of doing damage, between the hours of sunset and 
sunrise"; and so the "Herd Law" was adopted in 
the autumn of 1874. 

When the general custom of letting cattle, horses, 
hogs, and sheep run at large and wander where they 
liked was thus brought to an end, farmers in the new 
Dutch settlement were forced either to build fences 
or to keep an eye on their stock. Then it was that 
men advertised their readiness to herd cattle and 
horses during the summer. One Hollander secured 
a large area of rich grass land in the Rock Eiver 
valley and requested contracts; while another of- 
fered to begin herding at two dollars per head as 
soon as the grass permitted and to continue until 
the first of October.^^^ 

During the summer of 1875, when promising farm 
conditions prevailed in Sioux County, the Orange 
City settlement claimed 468 families or about 2500 
people. There were good buildings, flourishing little 
groves, excellent gardens, and splendid fields of 
grain. The Hollanders subscribed $800 for a gen- 
uine Dutch wind-mill. As long as this old-fashioned 
mill ground their wheat into flour it was the one fea- 
ture of the landscape which told the world of the 



GROWTH IN THE ORANGE CITY COLONY 183 

colony's nationality. But it was soon dismantled 
and supplanted by a modern steam roller-mill. As 
one pioneer suggested afterward, it deserved a bet- 
ter fate and should have been preserved as a land- 
mark, as a monument to the early settlers, and 
around it a park should have been laid out where old 
settlers' picnics and other community celebrations 
could have been held.^^'' 

In the autumn of 1875, when the Dutch farmers 
were rewarded with a really tremendous harvest, the 
most memorable incident, suggestive of the com- 
munity of interest and blood relationship among the 
Hollanders of Iowa, was a big excursion from Pella 
to Orange City, a repetition of a journey taken two 
years before. The proposed jaunt was advertised 
at a round-trip rate of $5.50, provided at least two 
hundred and twenty-five persons availed themselves 
of the opportunity, and a brass band was scheduled 
to accompany the party. An Orange City editor 
urged that an elaborate reception be tendered to the 
guests. "Get quartettes together," he said, "put 
your organs in shape, string your violins, get out 
your flags and prepare garlands of flowers ! Orange 
greets Pella: Welcome, thrice welcome!" 

Wlien the excursion had to be postponed once 
owing to bad weather, the following letter appeared 
in the Dutch newspaper at Orange City, in answer 
to "Mother's" letter: 

Glad you are coming. Do take good care of the chil- 
dren — tie little strings to their hats. Don't bring any 
presents — you may bring along a few little car-loads of 



184 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

lean pigs — they can eat our corn and we can then butcher 
and eat them. My boys will be busy stacking wheat, making 
hay, and plowing. Do beware of the politicians who are 
abroad — whistle occasionally and pull the telegraph wire 
so that we may know where you are. 

One morning early in September, at four 
o'clock, the Pella excursionists left home after ''500 
roosters had been sacrificed and 500 more were in 
danger in case of postponement. ' ' The visitors were 
welcomed with loud hurrahs by their Orange City 
hosts at East Orange station where eighty vehicles 
were waiting to convey them to the county seat. 
Two years before there had been a scene of inde- 
scribable enthusiasm at the same station adorned 
with flags and green twigs. On the day after the ar- 
rival the guests from Pella inspected the country and 
in the afternoon old and young at Orange City laid 
aside work to celebrate. In the evening Pella 's brass 
band serenaded Orange City's chief men. In the 
afternoon of the second day hosts and guests gath- 
ered at church: prayer was said; Psalms were sung; 
Rev. Bolks spoke about "Mother's visit" ; Rev. Win- 
ter replied for the visitors ; the choir sang ; and after 
the benediction the congregation followed the band 
away. 

Two days, "days of feasting", were consumed in 
visiting. Relatives and friends once more enjoyed 
each other's society and genuine hospitality reigned 
in every Dutch home. As the colony's leader after- 
wards remarked, those were "indeed happy days, 
oases on the desert of life which should long be held 



GROWTH IN THE ORANGE CITY COLONY 185 

in remembrance and do us good." And the men 
from Pella had nothing but words of praise, en- 
couragement, and flattery for their Sioux County 
friends and kinsmen.^" 

For a few years after its establishment Holland 
Township contained an area three times the size of 
an ordinary township. Nassau Township was re- 
duced to its present size in 1875 by the organization 
of East Orange Township to the east and Sherman 
Township to the west. Floyd Township, to the east 
of Holland, was constituted in 1873. These town- 
ships in the southeastern part of Sioux County had 
a population of nearly 2000 inhabitants in 1875, 
most of them being Hollanders. 

In 1876 West Branch Township with a population 
primarily Dutch was organized from a part of Hol- 
land Township. North of West Branch, Welcome 
Township was established in 1882 ; and later a town- 
ship was named Capel, after that Kapelle in Europe 
where it is said "the Dutch cut the dykes and let in 
the sea to defeat the Spanish and again about a 
century later to flood out the French. ' ' The present 
townships of Sioux County were all in existence in 
1885, but those not mentioned here were not orig- 
inally strongholds of the Dutch element.^ ^^ 

To show the relative importance and growth of 
various parts of the Dutch settlement in the town- 
ships named it is interesting to note that congrega- 
tions of the Dutch Reformed Church were estab- 
lished at Orange City in 1871, at West Branch in 



186 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

1877, at East Orange in 1877, at North Orange in 
1883, at Maurice in 1884, at Pattersonville in 1885, 
at Middelburg in 1885, at Hospers in 1886, at Boy- 
den in 1888, at Rock Valley in 1891, and at Carmel 
in 1896. West Branch became Sioux Center in 1881 ; 
East Orange, though perpetuated as the name of a 
township, was later named Alton, although certain 
citizens preferred the names of Wilfred and Delft; 
North Orange became Newkirk; and Pattersonville 
was changed to Hull.^^^ 

East Orange Township had a population of 103 in 
1880, Floyd 438, Holland 1028, Nassau 596, Sher- 
man 336, and West Branch 420. Of the inhabitants 
of Sioux County in 1880, two-thirds were of Amer- 
ican birth, mostly lowans, including those of Dutch 
descent ; while the remaining one-third were of for- 
eign birth, predominantly Hollanders, with Germans, 
Irish, and Canadians next in order of importance. 
If there were 2500 Hollanders in Sioux County in 
1875, the number can not have increased much be- 
fore 1880, because the destruction of crops by grass- 
hoppers had practically checked the flow of immi- 
gration to the Dutch settlement.^*'" 

Inasmuch as the immigration movement to the 
northwestern counties was greatly retarded by the 
locust scourge, the report of which had given this 
poverty-stricken district no savory reputation 
throughout America and Europe, the State of Iowa 
once more undertook to induce homeseekers to take 
up its thousands of acres of unused land. Having 



GROWTH IN THE ORANGE CITY COLONY 187 

been selected Commissioner of Immigration in 1880, 
George D. Perkins secured the aid of real estate 
dealers and also of the commissioners of the leading 
land-grant railroads, all of whom cooperated with 
him to distribute certain documents which he had 
prepared — among which were three thousand copies 
of De Volksvriend.^'^^ 

The coming of two more railways to Sioux 
County at about this time also stimulated immigra- 
tion. The Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Rail- 
road reached Pattersonville in the fall of 1878, while 
the Chicago and Northwestern Eailroad was com- 
pleted through Alton, Orange City, and Maurice in 
1882. The growth of towns was considerably pro- 
moted and farmers were relieved of the necessity of 
making long hauls to distant markets. Orange City 
was incorporated in 1883. 

Census returns for 1885 gave Sioux County a 
total population of 11,584, of whom 3904 persons 
were foreign-born. Of these 146 came from Eng- 
land, 164 from Ireland, 249 from Canada, 83 from 
Norway, 896 from Germany, and 1818 from Holland, 
one-third of the total number of Holland-born people 
in Iowa. The Hollanders probably comprised a ma- 
jority of the inhabitants in Capel, Floyd, Nassau, 
Sherman, Welcome, West Branch, and Holland town- 
ships, and in the towns of Alton, Orange City, Hos- 
pers, and Sioux Center.^*'- 

In 1885 a gentleman from The Netherlands who 
visited all the important Dutch centers in America 
(such as Paterson, New Jersey; Albany and Roches- 



188 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ter, New York; and Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and 
Holland, Michigan), in the interest of a charitable 
institution, also came to Iowa. He wrote a book de- 
scribing his American journey, and said of Orange 
City: 

We were struck by the fruitfulness of the soil and the 
prosperity which reigns everywhere. ... Of all the 
Dutch settlements which we visited, Orange City is the 
youngest; she is, so to speak, a daughter of the Dutch 
colony at Pella ; about fifteen years ago this region was but 
little inhabited. Here and there one came across a small 
farm occupied by Americans wlio take the lead as pioneers 
and soon disappear whenever a more civilized and better 
regulated society forms in their neighborhood. . . . 

At that time one had to drive for hours in an ox-wagon 
to obtain the necessities of life ; now three railways run in 
the vicinity of this town. Fifteen years ago great numbers 
of Indians came here and temporarily pitched their wig- 
wams for hunting on the prairies, and ten years ago they 
still followed herds of deer and gazelles which found their 
way into the fields of corn and caused much damage. Now 
one seldom if ever sees a deer, not even on the prairie, and 
no Red Man ever comes here. 

We were at once convinced that from the time the first 
emigrants built their huts a greater revolution had taken 
place here than any we had met with on our journey 
through America. ... In the neigh])orhood of Orange 
City the land for miles is dotted with splendid farm-houses, 
all very neatly arranged and offering the greatest comfort 
to their occupants. Most of them are so well furnished that 
many of our farmers' wives might well be jealous. 

House-sites are carefully selected and nearly all are 
found on little knolls. . . . For protection against prairie 



GROWTH IN THE ORANGE CITY COLONY 189 

storms the houses are surrounded with trees, except on the 
eastern side which admits a free and open view. . . . The 
trees are mostly Canadian poplars — first found by the set- 
tlers along the river banks. It will be well in the future 
for many wooden-shoe makers to go to this place, for these 
trees are as unfit for lumber here as in Holland. . . . When 
I had observed all this [the city], I was amazed at the 
organization and development which the men who first 
pitched their tents had brought to pass.^^^ 

Out of a population of 18,370 in Sioux County in 
1890, one-third were still foreign-born. The number 
of Hollanders can not be estimated. The greatest 
increase in population, however, took place in the 
townships and towns occupied by the Dutch. In 
this year the Sioux City and Northern Railway (now 
the Great Northern) brought Sioux Center into 
prominence. 

Census statistics for 1895 gave Sioux County a 
population of 21,405 inhabitants, of whom one-third 
were born outside of the United States. Sweden 
was the birthplace of 102 ; Norway and England pro- 
duced 106 and 159 respectively ; Ireland and Canada 
sent 205 and 221; Germany 1376; and Holland 4325. 
The increase of foreign-born Hollanders for ten 
years, therefore, was nearly 3000, and Sioux County 
at this time contained about one-half of the whole 
number of Dutch in the State of lowa.^*** 

The autumn of 1895 was, therefore, an occasion 
when the Hollanders fittingly celebrated the twenty- 
fifth anniversary of their coming to Sioux County. 
They chose Orange City as the scene of their jubilee 



190 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

festivities; and, "dressed in their best", they as- 
sembled in thousands from all their towns and farms 
throughout the county to honor the pioneers. Old 
settlers dropped their activities, gathered together, 
glanced back upon the road by which they had come, 
recounted the experiences of the preceding years, 
and thanked God for past and present blessings. 
The young folks, little realizing how much their 
parents had suffered in the early days, found amuse- 
ment in various street attractions such as ringing 
knives and canes, hurling balls at wooden or rag 
dolls or "nigger babies", throwing eggs, three for 
a dime, at the black man's head, and riding in 
merry-go-rounds. They also enjoyed great quanti- 
ties of red lemonade, ice cream, and other things 
good to eat, and measured athletic skill in numerous 
street sports before the eyes of hundreds of friends. 
Newspapers in the county issued special num^ 
bers in honor of this event. The first and oldest 
Dutch weekly appeared clad in a gala attire of red. 
It presented a series of short accounts of the growth 
and development of the various localities where the 
Hollanders had congregated in sufficiently large 
numbers to maintain church organizations. Thus, 
one may read a sketch by the editor of the founding 
of the newspaper, a short account of the beginning 
of the colony by Henry Hospers, a chronological 
review by A. J. Betten of the chief events of the 
first decade, a brief history of the Orange City Pub- 
lic Schools and of Northwestern Classical Academy, 
and also short sketches of Orange City, Newkirk, 



GROWTH IN THE ORANGE CITY COLONY 191 

Middelburg, Boyden, Rock Valley, Hull, Hospers, 
Sioux Center, Maurice, Alton, and Le Mars (in Ply- 
mouth County) — all towns in and near which the 
Dutch had then achieved financial and church pros- 
perity.^''^ 



XXVI 

THE EXPANSION OF THE DUTCH ELEMENT 
IN IOWA 

State and national statistics afford a good crite- 
rion of the growth in numbers of foreign-born Hol- 
landers in Iowa, but they do not record the rela- 
tively large number of children of Dutch parentage 
except as native-born inhabitants of the State. To 
estimate the number of Hollanders in Iowa, both 
foreign-born and native, is largely a matter of spec- 
ulation ; but such an estimate need not for that rea- 
son be avoided in all cases. 

According to all census enumerations previous to 
and including the year 1870, Marion County was the 
leading county in Iowa in respect to the number of 
Holland-born inhabitants. Of 4513 Hollanders in 
the State in that year, Marion had no less than 2077 ; 
Mahaska, its neighbor to the east, had 318 ; and Lee 
County could point to 258, most of whom lived at 
Keokuk, the natural gate through which Hollanders 
had passed for many years on their way to Pella 
and vicinity. Muscatine County contained 185 peo- 
ple from The Netherlands; and next in order came 
Sioux County with its budding colony of 133, and 
Dubuque County with 111. Foreign-born Holland- 
ers dwelt in all but thirty-five of the ninety-nine 
counties in the State.^''® 

192 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 193 

Beginning with the year 1870 one can trace the 
increase and decrease of the numbers above quoted, 
and for convenience the State of Iowa may be con- 
sidered in four large groups of counties where the 
largest numbers of Dutch immigrants have found 
homes. Of the Mississippi River counties Lee has 
gradually declined from a strong little colony of 
258 in 1870 to 201 in 1885, 167 in 1895, and 105 in 
1905, and nearly all of these lived in the city of 
Keokuk. A small number of Hollanders have con- 
tinued to make their homes in Scott County : 46 in 
1870, 30 in 1885, 25 in 1895, and 39 in 1905, centered 
chiefly in Davenport. In 1885 Clinton County had 
33 Hollanders in Clinton and De Witt, and in Orange 
Township, but only a negligible number has resided 
in the county since that year. Dubuque County, 
with the city of Dubuque as the chief point of set- 
tlement, dropped from 111 in 1870 to 38 in 1885, 82 
in 1895, and 56 in 1905. The Hollanders have al- 
ways found Muscatine an attractive county : it had 
185 in 1870, 170 in 1885, 189 in 1895, and 159 in 
1905. A Dutch Reformed Church has been main- 
tained in the city of Muscatine since 1891. 

Many Dutch immigrants settled in the counties 
situated north and east of Marshalltown, but never 
attained any particular numerical strength. Benton 
County with 29 in 1870 fell to 15 in 1895, and in 
1905 about the only suggestion of Holland or Hol- 
landers to be found in the county was the name of 
a town. Van Home. Tama County had 26, mostly 
in Columbia Township, in 1885, but lost these with- 



194 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

in a few years. Hardin County lias always con- 
tained a small number of Holland-born citizens : 46 
in 1870, 43 in 1885, 60 in 1895, and 44 in 1905, living 
for the most part in the town of Ackley. The num- 
ber of Hollanders in Grundy County increased from 
56 in 1870 to 58 in 1885, and 96 in 1905 : German 
Township contained most of them, while the town of 
Holland had none at all! Butler County has re- 
tained a thriving settlement in its southwestern cor- 
ner, especially at Parkersburg and in Albion Town- 
ship: the Hollanders increased from 21 in 1870 to 
119 in 1885, 151 in 1895, and 279 in 1905. It is a 
noteworthy fact that very many of the counties in 
this part of the State have congregations of the 
Dutch Reformed and the Christian Reformed 
Churches, but the membership consists almost ex- 
clusively of people who speak the East Friesian 
dialect of the Low German.^" 

Cerro Gordo County with 23 in 1885 and 29 in 
1895 had no Hollanders to speak of in 1905, as was 
also the case with Howard County on the Minnesota 
border. Franklin County had 58 Dutch immigrants 
in 1905; Black Hawk County increased from 16 in 
1895 to 22 in 1905; while Wright County rose from 
36 in 1895 to 83 in 1905. Webster County with 18, 
mostly at Fort Dodge, in 1885, and 20 in 1895, had 
scarcely any in 1905. Humboldt County has wav- 
ered from 44 in 1870, 22 in 1885, and 54 in 1895 
to 30 in 1905; and Pottawattamie County claimed 
16 in 1870, 38 in 1885, 56 in 1895, and 42 in 1905, 
mainly at Council Bluffs. 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 195 

In 1870 Lambert Kniest, a Dutch resident of 
Dubuque, Iowa, founded Mount Carmel in a town- 
ship in Carroll County which received his name. 
He planned to build up a prosperous colony of 
German and Dutch Roman Catholics, but the former 
have always preponderated. The Hollanders in 
1885 numbered 62, and were almost evenly dis- 
tributed among Kniest and Roselle townships and 
the town of Breda ; they were still 62 strong in 1895, 
but dropped to 52 in 1905.^'^^ 

The third group of counties where the Hollanders 
have flourished with especial vigor despite the fact 
that the population of that part of Iowa has re- 
mained stationary for thirty or forty years consists 
of Marion County and its neighbors. Immigrants 
from Holland have, during the last four decades, 
passed by Marion and located almost entirely in ad- 
jacent counties. Polk County has gained consist- 
ently, going from 21 in 1870 to 51 in 1885, 77 in 1895, 
and 97 in 1905, the city of Des Moines attracting the 
majority of them. In Wapello County to the south- 
east dwelt 55 Hollanders in 1870, principally at Ed- 
dyville, but the number had decreased from 57 in 
1885 to 39 and 33 in the years 1895 and 1905, res- 
pectively. In Jefferson County there lived 38 in 
1870, but there were none to speak of in 1905, and 
only the name Batavia remains to remind one of 
Holland. The number has slowly risen in Jasper 
County from 33 in 1870 to 166 in 1885, 338 in 1895, 
and 473 in 1905 ; likewise in Mahaska County from 
318 in 1870 and 303 in 1885, to 523 in 1895, and 621 



196 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

in 1905. Since 1870 Marion County has dropped 
from first to second place for the number of its Hol- 
land-born inhabitants: it had 2077, one-twelfth of 
the entire population of the county in 1870, but fell 
to 1577 in 1885, to 1638 in 1895, and to 1531 in 
1905.^^^ 

Of the Hollanders of both foreign and American 
birth residing in the counties of Marion, Mahaska, 
and Jasper, the city of Pella with its 3000 people is 
still the chief center. In Lake Prairie Township, 
where the Hollanders first settled in 1847, and in 
Pella the Americans form only a small minority of 
farmers and business men. Although the stream of 
Dutch immigration to Pella and surrounding country 
has diminished greatly in recent years, it continues 
to be steady. 

In Marion County itself the Hollanders have 
slowly spread out as land-owners, buying up the 
country situated between the Des Moines and the 
Skunk rivers and also land north of the latter river. 
South of the Des Moines River many own farms in 
Clay Township. During the past two years the Hol- 
landers have bought considerable land in the vicinity 
of Harvey and Bussey in Liberty Township. Only 
a few Dutch families live in Knoxville and Union 
townships near the Des Moines River. In Polk 
Township perhaps three-fourths of the people north 
of the river are Hollanders, while a few dwell south 
of the river. Summit Township to the west of Lake 
Prairie, is almost entirely in the hands of Holland- 
ers, as is perhaps one-tenth of Red Rock Township. 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 197 

The Dutch have gradually brought into their pos- 
session certain townships of Mahaska County, east 
of Pella, so that they own about three-fourths of 
Black Oak Township, one-fifth of Scott Township, 
and one-third of Richland Township. South and 
west of these townships there are numerous Hol- 
landers in Prairie Township, where they have lately 
bought much land in the vicinity of Taintor and 
New Sharon, and in Madison Township where they 
own about one-tenth of the land. There is a fair 
sprinkling of Dutch in Garfield, Jefferson, and West 
Des Moines townships. At Oskaloosa they are in- 
creasing year by year for the reason that they can 
find plenty of work in that city. In the other town- 
ships farther east, families of Hollanders are few 
and widely scattered. South of Oskaloosa they have 
been buying land in the neighborhood of Eddyville 
in Monroe County. 

North of Marion and Mahaska counties the Hol- 
landers have been spreading into Jasper County so 
that about one-tenth of Elk Creek Township and one- 
fifth of Lynn Grove Township are Dutch-owned, and 
Fairview and Des Moines townships each have a 
good quota of Hollanders. They have bought up 
considerable land in the neighborhood of Prairie 
City, Monroe, Reasnor, Galesburg, Killduff, Sully, 
and Lynnville.^^° 

In 1911 the Dutch in southern Iowa were con- 
fined to approximately all that area of country which 
lies within a radius of fifteen miles from Pella, north 
of the Des Moines River; while they and their de- 



198 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 



scendants were steadily pushing the circumference 
outward. But few American farmers live on the 
twenty-mile road between Pella and New Sharon or 
occupy farms on the highway between Pella and 
Oskaloosa, a distance of eighteen miles. There is at 
least a grain of truth in the following interesting 
bit of American journalism :"^ 

HOLLANDERS ARE THE BOYS 

THEY BUY UP OVERFLOW I-AND AND ARE GETTING RICH 

At the present rate of purchase, it will not be many 
years until Hollanders will own all the land between Pella 
and Oskaloosa, and between the Des Moines and Skunk 
rivera. They buy several thousand acres every year, and it 
is an accepted axiom that when a Dutchman gets a farm 
he never sells it. Their specialty also is to buy the less ex- 
pensive land and make it blossom like the rose. 

The bottom lands along the river, at which the American 
shies, especially during the season of high water, is the Hol- 
lander 's delight. He knows from experience in his own 
country that if he can keep the water out, this land will 
produce enormous crops. And there is where he is begin- 
ning to shine here. The first thing a Hollander does after 
taking possession of the land is to tile it and then begin the 
erection of dykes. Skunk River for miles is being walled 
up, and it will only be a few years until high water in this 
section will have no terrors for the owners of low lands. 
The Hollander also is an intensive farmer, and it is no un- 
usual thing for one of them to make a crop pay for the 
land. 

"With an increase of wealth and prosperity came 
an expansion of the land area owned by the Hoi- 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 199 

landers in the vicinity of Pella. As their sons grew 
up new farms were needed and purchased, very 
often at high prices. Indeed, the market of that 
part of Iowa was not flooded with cheap or abundant 
land, and this fact forced hundreds of Hollanders to 
seek their fortunes elsewhere in America. Under 
such circumstances Pella 's only successful daughter- 
colony was founded in Sioux County, but as that 
region filled up with farmers, and homesteads rose 
in value, many Hollanders of Pella and vicinity 
settled in Minnesota and South Dakota in communi- 
ties established by Hollanders from Michigan. 

Thus, at about the time when Henry Hospers led 
a band of settlers to Sioux County, other Pella 
people went southward to Kansas where they found- 
ed Rotterdam and Prairie View, two communities 
which were never a match for their northern neigh- 
bors. Another group established a village named 
Pella in Lancaster County, Nebraska, a small agri- 
cultural community. Still other associations hope- 
fully founded towns of the same name in Texas and 
in Colorado, but both towns were extinct in 1911. 
Southwestern Iowa was also considered, but land 
could not be secured. 

As they grew in numbers and found it increas- 
ingly difficult to obtain additional farm lands at 
home, the Hollanders inspected lands in other locali- 
ties. Bella's Weekblad and other newspapers ad- 
vertised land-seekers' excursions to this or that dis- 
trict opened to settlers in the West, In 1911 the 
Dutch colony at Winnie, Texas, offered special in- 



200 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ducements. Many emigrated to Oklahoma. And 
wherever they went they bore their church affilia- 
tions, established churches or allied themselves with 
those already formed. The proverbial Dutch clan- 
nishness is well illustrated in the fact that emigrants 
from the Dutch colony around Pella have either es- 
tablished communities of their own or they have 
found homes in other Dutch settlements : compara- 
tively few have scattered to live alone among 
strangers. Feelings of nationality and kin have 
prompted Hollanders to dwell together in America, 
just as emigrants of most European lands have al- 
ways been induced to live among their friends and 
relatives in certain sections of the country. This 
clannishness appears to be merely one means of self- 
preservation."^ 

Northwestern Iowa, however, contains more than 
one-half the foreign-born Hollanders in the 
State. The stream of Dutch immigration has con- 
tinued toward that part of the State more strongly 
than to any other part since 1870. Osceola County 
with its poorly drained lands claimed but 22 in 1885 
and 83 in 1905, chiefly at Sibley. Woodbury County, 
with Sioux City as the center, had 12 in 1885, 106 in 
1895, and 125 in 1905. Lyon County rose from 142 
in 1895 to 279 in 1905; and O'Brien County from 64 
in 1885 to 114 in 1895, and 237 in 1905, located very 
largely in the town of Sheldon, and in Baker and 
Carroll townships ; while Phonouth County had 15 in 
1870, 187 in 1885, 311 in 1895, and only 171 in 1905, 
residing chiefly at Le Mars. 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 201 

Sioux County has made the most remarkable 
gains. From a small group, 133 in 1870, the number 
of foreign-born Hollanders increased to 1818 in 
1885, 4325 in 1895, and 4407 in 1905. The entire 
Dutch element in the State, exclusive of descendants 
of foreign-born parents, consisted of 1108 in 1850, 
2077 in 1856, 2615 in 1860, 4513 in 1870, 4743 in 
1880, 5461 in 1885, 7941 in 1890, 9126 in 1895, 9388 
in 1900, and 9677 in 1905, and of this element Sioux 
County has had almost one-half in later years. 
Other Hollanders were distributed, in most cases 
widely scattered, among all but fourteen counties in 
the State in 1885 and among all but six counties in 
1905.^" 

It is estimated that over one-half of approxi- 
mately 25,000 people in Sioux County are Dutch, 
either by birth or descent, thus making that county 
the home of the largest settlement of Hollanders in 
the State, although Pella and vicinity are a close 
second. The Hollanders are advancing farther 
westward into the county, southward into Pljnnouth 
County, eastward into O'Brien County, and north- 
ward into Lyon County, and they are primarily re- 
sponsible for increasing the percentage of rural pop- 
ulation in Sioux County from five to fifteen per cent 
during the past ten years. 

In Holland Township the Dutch own all but one 
section of the land and, with a few American fami- 
lies, they number 1374 people at Orange City. In 
Capel Township, with its village of Middelburg, the 
Hollanders own all but five sections, and nine-tenths 



202 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

of the land of West Branch Township is Dutch- 
owned, whik> Sioux Center has only four or live non- 
Dutch families in a i)opulation of 1064. There, as 
at Orange City, Hollanders own and carry on nearly 
all business enterprises. All but one section of the 
land in Welcome Township belongs to the Dutch. 

In Lynn Township more than one-half of the land 
is farmed by Hollanders; Germans and Americans 
own the rest. In Floyd Township Dutch and Ger- 
mans share the land about equally. The town of 
ITospers and the village of Newkirk are, however, 
mainly Dutch. In this part of Sioux County the 
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Kailroad 
practically separates the areas occupied by the two 
nationalities — the former owning land to the north 
and the latter to the south of the railroad. East 
Orange Township, therefore, is almost entirely in 
the hands of Germans; and Nassau Towiishij), with 
its town of Alton, is perhaps predominantly Dutch. 
The Germans are equally prosperous as farmers in 
that district, and have owned their lands as long as 
their Dutch neighbors so that the proportion of na- 
tionalities has not changed for numy years. The 
Hollanders prefer to rent out their farms to Dutch- 
men, while German owners just as strongly insist 
upon German renters. 

Americans are in a majority in Grant Township, 
with their neighbors about evenly divided between 
Dutch and Germans, the former owning about ten 
sections of land. The same is true of Sheridan 
Township where the Hollanders own thirteen sec- 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELPMENT IN IOWA 203 



tions of land and are also firmly intrenched in the 
town of Boyden. Lincoln Township has for many 
years been passing into the hands of the Dutch until 
they hold about one-half of the land, while Amer- 
icans and Germans own the rest. The town of Hull, 
once strongly American, is now largely Dutch, and 
the village of Perkins is entirely so. 

Sherman Township and the town of Maurice are 
one-half Dutch, with some Germans and a good many 
Irish. Reading Township and the town of Ireton, 
once strictly Yankee and Irish territory, are grad- 
ually being taken by the Hollanders — for Irishmen 
seem to think that land at from $100 to $150 per 
acre is too good for them. About one-half of Cen- 
ter Township, three-sevenths of Plato Township, 
two-fifths of Rock Township, including the town of 
Rock Valley, and one-fifth of Sioux Township have 
fallen into the hands of Hollanders, although their 
neighbors, Germans and Americans, predominate. 
These i)eople, with some Norwegians, occupy the 
greater part of Settlers and Garfield townships, but 
the Dutch own one-tenth and one-fourth of the land, 
respectively. Americans and Germans are still firm 
in the southwestern townships with only a mere 
sprinkling of Dutch. '^^ 

American-born Hollanders have been invading 
the counties around Sioux so that in Sheldon, 
O'Brien County, nearly every store and bank em- 
ploys Dutch-speaking clerks. They have spread 
east of Sheldon and have established a church at 
Sanborn. There is a goodly number of Dutch in the 



204 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

western townships of O'Brien County, and also in 
the southern townships of Lyon County. It is be- 
lieved that the Hollanders will be in control of the 
northwestern corner of O'Brien County and the 
southern part of Lyon County within a few years. 
Plymouth County has not as many Dutch as for- 
merly. 

It is true that with the rapid expansion of the 
Dutch in Sioux and neighboring counties, many have 
been forced to buy land in other States : many have 
found homes in the neighborhood of such towns as 
Harrison, Platte, Corsica, Springfield, Worthing, 
Chancellor, and Volga — all in South Dakota. 
Others in their search for land have obtained farms 
near the towns of Luctor, Leota, Edgerton, Clara 
City, Roseland, and Spring Creek, Minnesota; and 
some have migrated to Hull, Westfield, Twin Brooks, 
North Marion, and Litchville, North Dakota. A 
considerable number went to Linden, Oak Harbor, 
and North Yakima, Washington. Other families in- 
vested their money in cotton plantations in Missis- 
sippi. 

In late years many have gone to Crawford and 
Denver, Colorado ; and not a few have helped swell 
the tide of emigration from Iowa to the cheap lands 
of the Canadian northwest.^" In practically all of 
these communities, which are mainly agricultural, 
are to be found Hollanders from the older Dutch 
settlements in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and 
Wisconsin. The existence of these settlements with 
their thriving little churches where Dutch is 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 205 

preached shows better than anything else how par- 
tial the Hollanders are to people of their own nation 
and to ancestral institutions. 

Seldom if ever do the Hollanders of the Dutch 
communities in Iowa return to live in The Nether- 
lands. After years of prosperity in America some 
immigrants go back for a few months ' stay, or per- 
haps for a winter's visit with friends and relatives 
in the old home, but those who expect to live out 
their days in Holland find themselves quickly disil- 
lusioned: they are happy to escape from a life 
which grates on them with its pronounced social 
ranks. A renewal of their acquaintance with social 
conditions in the fatherland convinces them that 
western America with its ideas of equality is prefer- 
able to a poor man's wretched lot in Holland. The 
Hollanders who have visited their people in Europe 
have been the means of carrying American enthu- 
siasm with them and they have frequently conducted 
Dutch families to Iowa. Some years ago a Sioux 
County visitor in Holland returned home with six 
families of from five to eight children each. 

Dutch immigration to Iowa has not yet ceased. 
Fathers of large families in Holland still want to 
give their sons a good start in life. Many who come 
to the Iowa settlements are unable at once to rent 
farms. Consequently they live for a time in town 
where they work as day-laborers at odd jobs, or cul- 
tivate a few acres of land, and gradually obtain 
a knowledge of American farm conditions. When 



206 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

their sons grow up they rent farms and, after sav- 
ing for a few years, may buy land of their own. 

In the spring of 1911 American newspapers 
heralded, the coming of thousands of Hollanders to 
America, lured by the eternal hope of bettering their 
condition and of establishing themselves in a coun- 
try where advancement is possible to the poorest 
man, if endowed with ambition and determination. 
Eastern reporters interviewed an Iowa Hollander 
who said: 

Most of those who are coming over now are from Fries- 
land. They come here as a land of refuge from conditions 
which have grown intolerable in their home land. There 
opportunity has departed, and to remain means that a man 
must ever be a plodder. Of course, over-population enters 
into the question. In such a crowded country there is no 
chance for that spirit which we call over here "get up and 
get ' '. There is no chance for fortune to smile, and there is 
no incentive to develop the land which one does not own. 

Holland is becoming a country for the well-to-do. The 
rich own much of the land. The land is nearly all in their 
hands. If by chance there is a piece of land, the farmer 
must bid for it. When a piece of land is vacant, which is 
not often, it is advertised for about a week and a date is set 
for renting it. The lease is then practically sold at auction. 
One farmer will make an offer for the property and an- 
other will raise the price a bit. And so it will go until 
finally it is a question whether the man who obtains posses- 
sion is really the fortunate bidder. The price is run up to 
such a figure that one may perhaps make a living, but as to 
making more, never. 

Now, if this holds for the farmer, the man generally 



EXPANSION OF DUTCH ELEMENT IN IOWA 207 

who has inherited some money or a lease, or who has slowly 
climbed the ladder by the hardest kind of work, work that 
bows the shoulders in age and in time turns a man into a 
dull plodding fellow, what chance has the farm laborer, the 
honest, hard-working man who has seen the sun rise and set 
in the fields as long as he can remember? His chance of 
becoming a leaseholder is reduced to a minimum, and he 
has hardly a chance of ever becoming a landowner. 

Is it to be wondered at that these men are turning to 
the United States ; that they are coming here filled with an 
ambition to succeed ? Could a more desirable class knock at 
the gateway of the New World ? I crossed the Atlantic with 
several hundreds of my countrymen and I was proud of 
them every knot of the way. They combine thrift with a 
capacity for the hardest kind of work, and thej'' are seldom 
discouraged. They were born to fight for existence in 
crowded Holland, and that is the spirit they bring with 
them across seas.^^^ 

On the 28th of February, 1912, newspapers 
throughout the United States reported the arrival 
of two hundred Dutch farmers and their families on 
board the steamship "Noordam". They were on 
the way to Iowa where they had purchased a large 
tract of land. All were said to be in possession of 
ample funds — all were declared to be ' ' splendid 
specimens of the sturdy Friesland yeoman farmers, 
who have been the backbone of Holland in the time 
of trouble ' ', and who were now forced by high rents 
and heavy taxation to leave their fatherland. 



XXVII 

POLITICAL BEGINNINGS AMONG THE HOL- 
LANDERS IN MAEION COUNTY 

The Hollanders who were transplanted in 1847 to 
the prairies of Iowa, then the youngest State of the 
American Union, were the product of Europe's so- 
cial, religious, and political conditions. Not only 
had they been branded and maltreated in their 
fatherland as a congregation of religious fanatics, 
but they had also been regarded as a menace to the 
state, excluded from all positions of political trust, 
closely watched by the spies of a suspicious govern- 
ment, and in many ways kept in a state of political 
subjection. In America, which they hailed as the 
land of civil and religious liberty, they first learned 
to know the meaning of real freedom: Americans 
respected and treated them according to their merits. 
The change from the oppression of the Old World to 
the freedom of the New World was a novel one to 
them; and the absence of social and political dis- 
criminations caused them to breathe a sigh of re- 
lief. 

As descendants of the ancient Batavi whom Rome 
had honored as allies because her armies could not 
subdue them, the Dutch emigrants to America cut 
loose from the reactionary principles of a govern- 

208 



POLITICS IN MARION COUNTY 209 

ment which had undertaken to crush their aspira- 
tions for religious independence. The door to civil 
and religious liberty in the Dutch colonies had been 
deliberately closed to them — the only ray of light 
which reached them came from America. When 
they had deserted a king and government at whose 
hands they had suffered so much persecution and 
loss of honor, and when they had set up homes in 
the heart of America, they prided themselves on the 
opportunity to live upon a soil which had never been 
occupied by any European power nor ''wrested 
from the original owners by means of the conquer- 
or's bloody sword "."^ 

Scholte pointed with pleasure to the fact that 
North America had never come under the sway of 
the Eoman Empire. To Christians in Holland he 
wrote : 

The United States first came into existence as a nation 
when she broke all political and religious ties binding her 
to the mother country. The Declaration of Independence 
did not flow from theoretical doctrines of liberty, but was 
the outcome of practical experience in matters of right and 
justice. This big country, where millions may still find 
enough to keep them, was not snatched from its former 
owners by means of bloody weapons ; it was bought and the 
price was paid. The foundation of Babylonian world 
powers in the North American Colonies, transplanted from 
Europe in early times, was entirely destroyed when the 
Union was formed. After that came the acquisition of a 
vast stretch of country ; the advance of enterprising settlers, 
by whom the most distant regions (also the State of Iowa) 
were opened to European emigrants. 



210 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

The laborer is not oppressed, the needy are not aban- 
doned, the foreigner is not turned away, the people are not 
crushed by oppressive taxes. The nation is free, and shows 
that she can bear and enjoy this freedom. The worship of 
God is respected without financial assistance from the State 
and without obligations to the State. These and many other 
reasons cause me to judge that the condition of the United 
States has thus far been absolutely different from that of 
countries subject to Rome. Moreover, the faces of Christian 
people in various Old World countries are being turned this 
way. He who believes in God 's guidance must take note of 
this and inquire into the reasons.^^^ 

Shortly after his arrival in America Scholte went 
to Washington, D. C, concerning which he wrote: 

I found the higher government officials so ready and 
willing to help me in every way that I could hardly believe 
my own eyes and ears, and I was involuntarily driven to 
compare them with officials in Holland — a comparison 
which did not redound to the credit of the latter country. 
I not only experienced no gmffness, not only did no one try 
to get the better of me, but with the utmost modesty and 
willingness to answer my questions of investigation they 
presented me with printed documents free of cost, while a 
few days later they forwarded to me at New York, free of 
charge, a set of maps of the various States indicating unsold 
government lands. 

Equally kind was the treatment which he received 
at the hands of statesmen at Albany, where he visited 
a session of the legislature. ''Recognized by one of 
the members", he writes, "I was compelled to take a 
seat in their midst. How different from Hol- 
land!""" 



POLITICS IN MARION COUNTY 211 

Immediately after their arrival in Marion County 
the Hollanders wished to have it understood that 
they intended to become permanent residents of the 
State of Iowa. Within one month after they settled 
upon their farms, they requested the clerk of the dis- 
trict court to come to Pella so that they might be 
relieved of taking a journey to Kjioxville, the county 
seat. When this officer acquiesced, Scholte writes, 
*'we declared our intention to become citizens of the 
United States of North America, so that our status 
as subjects of William II came to an end once for 
all." 

Of this unique incident at Pella, an American 
visitor wrote: 

On the day of my arrival, it was my good fortune to 
witness a most interesting proceeding. Most of the male 
adults went through the ceremony of declaring their inten- 
tions of becoming citizens of the United States. It was alto- 
gether an impressive scene, to behold some two hundred 
men with brawny arms upraised to heaven eschewing all 
allegiance to foreign powers, Potentates, etc. And as they 
all responded, in their native tongue, to the last words of 
the oath: "So help me God!" no one could resist the heart- 
felt response: "So help them God to keep their solemn 
vow!" All appeared to feel the weight of responsibility 
they were about to assume. No tribute could be more 
beautiful or complimentary to our institutions than to be- 
hold the men of "Pella" coming up in their strength, on 
the prairies of America, and there eschewing forever all 
allegiance to the tyranny of king-craft. ... A fact worth 
recording during the ceremony before the clerk of the court 



212 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

was that, of the whole number that took the oath of intend- 
ed citizenship, but two made their marks.^®" 

This hasty manifestation of their willingness to 
become identified with the American people made 
such a good impression that, although the State Con- 
stitution of 1846 prescribed United States citizenship 
as a qualification of voters and of candidates for 
office, the General Assembly of Iowa passed a special 
statute which ignored constitutional provisions. 
For otherwise the Hollanders who lived in Marion 
County would have been deprived of township gov- 
ernment for five years, a situation which might have 
led to a failure of the administration of justice. 

When the General Assembly met in special ses- 
sion at Iowa City in January, 1848, Scholte and other 
members of the council of the association prepared a 
petition asking relief in three particulars. The re- 
sult was that Jefferson and Lake Prairie townships 
which the Hollanders owned almost entirely, were 
united under the name of Lake Prairie Township; 
secondly, those who had taken the oath of allegiance 
to the United States were given the right to vote for 
township officers ; and thirdly, they were allowed to 
become candidates for the various township offices. ^^^ 

**How different," Scholte wrote, ''this is from 
our status in Holland I need not point out to anyone 
who remembers that we were treated as a people who 
should have no rights and be kept out of all positions. 
Here the various political parties unite to assure us 
that they prize our presence and that they will grant 



POLITICS IN MARION COUNTY 213 

us as many privileges as are consistent with the 
Constitution. . . . America warmly welcomes 
the liberty-loving Hollanders with open arms, mind- 
ful of the fact that sons of that same Holland were 
the founders of one of the most flourishing parts 
of the American Union, and hopeful that the present 
immigrant Hollanders will be to the West what the 
earlier ones have been to the East — powerful fac- 
tors in the development and prosperity of the United 
States of North America. ' ' ^^" 

With the government authorities at Washington 
it appears that Scholte and his friends had sufficient 
influence to obtain a post-office and post-route for 
the Dutch settlement. Furthermore, the citizens of 
Marion County had become so dissatisfied with the 
location of Knoxville as the seat of justice of Marion 
County that they desired to have it removed north 
of the Des Moines River. ''The American people 
are quite generally convinced that the best place in 
the whole county would be found in our township", 
wrote Scholte, ' ' and for that reason several persons 
have requested me to lay out a town where the river 
is easily forded, and to offer lots for sale to the 
public, convinced that if the selection of a county 
seat ever comes before the voters the choice will un- 
doubtedly fall upon this place, in case I should meet 
the county half-way and appropriate a site for pub- 
lic buildings. It is not improbable that I shall de- 
cide to plat such a town near the river, and that a 
survey in compliance with the law shall be com- 
menced within a few weeks." 



214 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Thus Scholte wrote to his friends in Holland in 
the month of March, 1848, and shortly afterward he 
staked out a town upon the banks of the Des Moines 
River and named it Amsterdam upon request of his 
American neighbors. The glorious future of this 
town, however, proved to be a pipe dream. What 
was once Auasterdam is now an expanse of corn 
fields, and Knoxville has maintained its position as 
the county seat.^®^ 

In the month of May, 1848, the Hollanders could 
for the first time boast of having tasted civil liberty, 
for they had gone through the experience of selecting 
their own township officers. The few American citi- 
zens who still resided in Lake Prairie Township 
gladly conceded that most of the officers should be 
Hollanders and that the Hollanders should have their 
own caucus for the nomination of candidates. Ac- 
cordingly, the election took place at Scholte 's house, 
and the following men took the oath of office : Green 
F. Clark and H. P. Scholte, justices of the peace; 
Stilman Elwell and Cornelius van den Berg, con- 
stables; G. Awtry, A. J. Betten, and P. Welle, 
trustees; I. Overkamp, clerk; H. P. Scholte, school 
inspector; J. Roziersz, treasurer; Cornelius den 
Hartog and H. Barendregt, overseers of the poor; 
Wellington Nossaman, Wm. van Asch, G. van der 
Wilt, C. 't Lam, P. van Meveren, and Dk. Sijnhorst, 
road supervisors ; and A. de Visser and J. Toom, 
fence viewers. ^^* 

Official documents and papers in the English lan- 
guage were translated for the Hollanders whenever 



POLITICS IN MARION COUNTY 215 

necessary. Later in the year 1848 Scholte wrote 
that only in one case had the court's services been 
necessary — in a case involving a small debt — and 
as for the rest, the justice's work had been confined 
to the performance of the marriage ceremony, 
"which is one of his duties here", and to the legal- 
ization of signatures to contracts. Township offi- 
cers among the Dutch had very little to do during 
those first two or three years. The fence viewers 
were perhaps the busiest.^^^ 

The influence of the Hollanders in Marion 
County, however, was not confined altogether to 
township affairs. At a certain county convention 
which was called to discuss a law inimical to the in- 
terests of the people, Scholte as the representative 
of the Dutch colony was elected member of a com- 
mittee to draw up a memorial to the State legisla- 
ture. He did not refuse to serve, and he had the 
satisfaction of seeing his draught of the memorial 
accepted by the committee and later by the entire 
convention. So strong was popular sentiment at 
this time on the subject of Des Moines Kiver im- 
provement that candidates for the legislature were 
driven to make definite preelection promises in 
favor of a revision of the existing law,^^® 

With matters of national concern and with politi- 
cal party interests the Dutch had little to do; but 
Scholte wrote as follows : 

Next November there is to be an election in which the 
entire Union is interested. A President of the United 
States has to be chosen. Three candidates have been pro- 



216 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

posed by the various political parties: General Taylor by 
the Whigs; General Lewis Cass by the Democrats; and 
Martin Van Buren by a third party which will vote for 
neither Taylor nor Cass. Everywhere these parties are now 
holding mass-meetings in order to persuade the people to 
vote for their nominees. 

Although the Hollanders have nothing to do with this 
at present, they are nevertheless invited to these meetings 
to give their moral support to one or the other party, and 
by their influence to win the votes of American citizens. 
To-day there was such a meeting in a neighboring town. A 
few English-speaking Hollanders happened to be present. 
They were at once invited to participate in the meeting and 
the barbecue and were most cordially introduced to the con- 
vention as "members of the Dutch colony. If our former 
fellow-countrymen and fellow-believers compare with this 
the way in which they are treated by the various political 
parties [in Holland] , they will possibly notice considerable 
difference, and I do not believe that political conditions 
have been ameliorated since our departure from The Nether- 
lands. 

Here we are prized by our neighbors. They all know 
that we emphasize the worship of God as most important in 
life, and yet they do not consider us fanatics, nor do they 
fear that we shall have an injurious effect upon public life. 
In this respect, therefore, we have no reason to complain, 
but rather reason to be thankful.^" 

Thus, as residents of the State of Iowa for barely 
nine months, the Hollanders learned their first les- 
son in American politics, happy to obtain so im- 
portant a concession as complete local self-govern- 
ment. With genuine satisfaction they noted the ab- 



POLITICS IN MARION COUNTY 217 

sence of paternalism, perceiving that no govern- 
ment in the world ruled so little from above and en- 
trusted so much to the regulation and determination 
of the people themselves as the United States. This 
extension of self-government, one observer declared, 
led every citizen to investigate and participate in 
public measures, decreased popular discontent and 
opposition, and made the people in the noblest sense 
self-dependent adults.^^^ 

Well might the Hollanders be proud of their 
new liberty, for soon they were pained but not sur- 
prised to hear that the Dutch government had 
staged one scene of the tragedy of revolution which 
swept over Europe in 1848. Then it was that 
Scholte addressed the people of The Netherlands as 
follows : 

Has not the blood of citizens flowed because other citi- 
zens owed blind obedience to superiors who ordered them to 
fire their murderous guns ? That sort of thing has no place 
here; for that sort of thing no soldiers are available here. 
The legislature here sometimes passes a law which the 
people consider hostile to their interests. They gather in 
mass-meetings, condemn such law, draw up resolutions and 
propose what they think is right. 

The government never thinks of resisting such conven- 
tions with an armed police force, but gives ear to the peo- 
ple 's voice; occasionally stubborn, self-seeking officials are 
brought to time by the concerted action of the people. A 
subsequent General Assembly investigates grievances, and 
if it declines to redress them, at the next election American 
people will show that they know how to get their rights 
quietly and in a lawful manner. 



218 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

I attended such a mass-meeting here and was really 
struck by the way in which matters were conducted. Not 
only did political party lines disappear and the people act 
as companions in misery, but the distinction between Ameri- 
can and Hollander attracted no notice ; on the contrary per- 
sons who had but recently arrived in America were con- 
sulted and listened to just as freely as native-born citi- 
zens.^^^ 

The Hollanders in America noted also that hence- 
forth they would not be subjected to the espionage of 
a suspicious government : ' ' the rulers know that this 
would do no good because an election might deprive 
them of further chance to lord it over the people". 
Once limited to the private expression of their 
''opinions, votes and observations, brotherly words, 
protests", they could now say: "It is God's hand 
which in many ways directs oppressed Netherlanders 
to a land where they first learn what freedom means 
and how the country's inhabitants worthily enjoy 
it." 

Scholte believed that the theory of American 
political and social conditions might be imagined, 
but could never be put into practice, in Holland — a 
country dotted with military posts and everywhere 
supplied with police because there would be no se- 
curity without them. "It does little good," wrote 
Scholte, "to preach 'liberty, equality, and frater- 
nity': there must be people who are fitted to prac- 
tice." ^'° 



XXVIII 

PARTICIPATION BY THE HOLLANDERS IN 
ELECTIONS 

Teansplanted from an atmosphere of discontent in 
Holland, where they had been political nonentities, 
to America where they enjoyed the fundamental 
rights of freemen in the affairs of local self-gov- 
ernment, the Hollanders witnessed the participation 
of their American neighbors in the county. State, 
and national contests of the political arena. The 
Hollanders had come to live among people who had 
just voted upon the question of Statehood, had adopt- 
ed a Constitution, and were filled with the spirit of 
partisanship. State and national election campaigns 
were then conducted by Democrats and Whigs with 
tremendous party zeal and with no little bitterness 
and mutual recrimination. During the years of 
"fraud, trickery, and corruption", in the midst of 
violent controversies between Whigs and Democrats, 
the Hollanders were admitted to all the rights of 
American citizens in the autumn of 1852.^^^ 

For two or three years after 1852 Dutch voters 
took no conspicuous part in other than township 
elections — which is perhaps accounted for by the 
fact that they cared more about the improvement of 
their farms and the increase of their worldly pos- 

219 



220 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

sessions. Lake Prairie Township showed its vot- 
ing strength for the first time in 1855, when the 
Hollanders helped Marion County to defeat the 
adoption of a prohibitory law by a vote of two hun- 
dred and fifty to thirty-one, although the entire State 
vote was in favor of adoption/^- 

How much Scholte directed the party inclina- 
tions of his Dutch friends in Lake Prairie Township 
and Pella it is difficult to estimate. Before his ar- 
rival in America he had studied and admired the 
opinions of Henry Clay. His American neighbors, 
however, helped poll a majority vote in Marion 
County for Franklin Pierce, the Democratic candi- 
date for President in 1852. Again in 1854 when the 
Whig party had become merged into the Republican 
party, the voters of Lake Prairie Township cast a 
majority vote for Curtis Bates, the Democratic 
nominee for Governor. The few Hollanders who 
could read and understand acrimonious editorials in 
American newspapers and attend 'rousing political 
rallies were perhaps able to decide for themselves 
which party deserved their support, but most of the 
Dutch voters must have received their party views 
second-hand.^^^ 

On the first of February, 1855, there appeared 
The Pella Gazette, wherein the editors, H. P. Scholte 
and Edwin H. Grant, declared themselves "Inde- 
pendent in Everything". "It is not our intention", 
they said, "to remain silent upon the great political 
questions of the day. But we wish it to be dis- 
tinctly understood that we do not intend to give a 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 221 

blind credence to the machinations of any of the 
parties now dominant. We shall boldly avow our 
sentiments respecting any of the great movements of 
the age, regardless of political bias. Whenever we 
can consistently approve of any acts performed by 
either party, which seem to us to be calculated to 
benefit our State, or the great national confederacy, 
we shall cordially lend our influence to sustain and 
promote such measures. ' ' ^^* 

The Hollanders of Pella were astounded by the 
wide-spread interest of Americans in politics. They 
expressed great surprise that almost every Amer- 
ican had a comprehensive knowledge of the consti- 
tution of his government, discussed and criticised the 
various departments, and drew fine distinctions. 
They perceived that the American's first inclination 
was politics: "very seldom will he converse with 
.you about the weather, your health or anything of 
that sort; a laborer doesn't speak to his fellows 
about work, but the subject of conversation is nearly 
always government and politics." And this phe- 
nomenal fact Scholte and his Dutch people attrib- 
uted to the reading of newspapers."^ 

In the years from 1855 to 1860 the Know-Noth- 
ing or American party came in for its share of at- 
tention in Marion County. The adherents of this 
party desired an alteration of the naturalization 
laws so that twenty-one years of residence in the 
United States should be required of voters, and all 
foreign-born citizens should be excluded from of- 
fice : in short they believed in America for the Amer- 



222 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

icans. Scholte and the Hollanders opposed these 
men with all their might. 

Led to believe that the Republican party stood 
for monarchical institutions and that the great Dem- 
ocratic party had prevented an "aristocracy" from 
getting possession of the country, the Hollanders felt 
that as true sons of liberty they must swell the 
ranks of true Americans, and not being acquainted 
with American history and politics they thought that 
they would be true Americans if they voted the 
Democratic ticket. Their neighbors were Demo- 
crats — a fact which doubtless influenced many to 
affiliate with that party.^®® 

Perhaps the first Dutch candidate for an office in 
Iowa was Henry Hospers. As to this Democratic 
nominee for county surveyor Scholte declared in his 
usual independent way: *'He is a young man, a 
native of Holland, full of zeal to ascend the ladder of 
political preferment, and therefore not promoted 
quick enough by the Whigs, deserted their ranks and 
joined the Democratic party in the hope that they 
would reward his zeal with a speedy nomination. 
Mr. Hospers must, however, remember that there is 
some difference between nomination and election." 

At the election in August, 1855, the independent 
ticket supported by Know-Nothings was elected. 
Lake Prairie Township gave a heavy majority 
against them — a majority which, it was said, would 
have been swelled had the Hollanders been asked to 
vote on the question whether slavery or freedom 
should prevail in the Territories. They would have 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 223 

voted for freedom. Scliolte remarked: ''The citi- 
zens of Holland are not so easily drilled in a party 
organization: they like to judge for themselves. 
They can certainly be led astray by circumstances 
and false representations, like other men, but as a 
general rule they vote from conviction and principle, 
and it is not easy to get their votes for a man in 
whom they have no confidence. "^''^ 

Beginning in 1850, for many years the citizens of 
Pella, among them C. Jongewaard and Henry P. 
Scholte, were bold enough to petition the legislature 
to remove the State capital from Iowa City to Pella. 
Scholte even offered to donate land sufficient for a 
site. Though the voters of Wapello and Jefferson 
counties also favored the selection of Pella, the peti- 
tion received no serious attention. 

In 1855, after considerable agitation, the people 
of Pella voted in favor of incorporation, and elected 
a committee consisting of H. C. Huntsman, Isaac 
Overkamp, and Peter Barendregt to prepare a city 
charter. Scholte ridiculed the whole move as pre- 
posterous, saying: "the man in whose brains the 
first idea of incorporating Pella, as a city, has 
sprung up, ought to be found out. His name ought 
to be canonized in the records of the city council. 
Even if he was a Know-Nothing, he knew something, 
viz : That it is not only possible for natives, but also 
for foreign-born citizens to be easily humbugged. 
We fear, however, that more than one will claim the 
honor of invention, and then it is no easy matter to 
decide." 



224 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Wlien the charter was adopted, Scholte sarcas- 
tically referred to the city 's ' ' decemviri ' ' and dema- 
gogues, and accused the committee of inserting a 
Know-Nothing plank in the charter. He declared 
that in a place where most of the residents were of 
European origin, and where the population was in- 
creasing every year by fresh arrivals from the old 
country, it was very impolitic to exclude a man from 
voting in city matters till he became a citizen of the 
United States.^^' 

Pella 's first town officers were elected in Septem- 
ber, 1855. W. J. Ellis, an American, became mayor ; 
three Americans and three Hollanders were chosen 
as aldermen in three wards: G. Boekenoogen was 
elected recorder, Isaac Overkamp treasurer, and A. 
Stoutenberg marshal. Since that day Hollanders 
have held a majority of the city offices, but despite a 
numerical superiority over their Yankee neighbors 
they have not clannishly monopolized all positions. 
This is apparent from the names of their mayors 
before 1880: Isaac Overkamp, John Nollen, Wil- 
liam Fisher, Henry Hospers, H. M. McCuUy, H. 
Neyenesch, and E. F. Grafe. Dutch voters, however, 
in municipal as well as other elections have not al- 
ways been free from the charge of carelessness and 
irresponsibility : they have sometimes neglected their 
duty as citizens by staying at home and have allowed 
keener Americans to win the offices."^ 

It is an interesting and noteworthy fact that the 
Dutch of Pella and vicinity have been consistently 
and conservatively Democratic in their politics. 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 225 

When they overwhelmingly rejected the prohibitory 
statute of 1855 they did so not because they coun- 
tenanced drunkenness, but because it was a dis- 
tinctively Eepublican measure repugnant to their 
ideas of temperance. Scholte, himself a minister of 
the gospel, insisted it would be difficult "to find in 
the United States ten beer-shops kept by Dutchmen ; 
they are commonly Germans". 

When some politician remarked in the spring of 
1856 that there were "not enough wooden shoes in 
Pella to gain the victory" in Marion County, the 
spokesman of the Hollanders answered that "the 
men with wooden shoes and the men with boots and 
slippers ' ' had voted unanimously against the Know- 
Nothing Republicans, would do it again, and were 
"certainly ahead of those bogus Americans who 
have the lunatic presumption to maintain that men 
born upon American soil are the only fit political 
rulers in our Republic," — adding that "honest 
Dutchmen have brought too much true Republican- 
ism with them from the old country to be deceived 
or frightened by such bogus republicans ". " When- 
ever there is an opportunity of striking a blow for 
true Republican liberty", he continued, "the de- 
spised wooden-shoe nation will be at hand to kick 
would-be despots and exclusivists into the abyss of 
political oblivion. They may be slower than the 
live Yankee race, but they can endure and wait. 
They can be bowed, but not crushed. ' '-°° 

Scholte sometimes delivered speeches in the 
Dutch language on political questions of the day, 



226 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

and through his newspaper he made himself clear 
on the subject of slavery. He believed that slavery 
should be removed from American soil by honorable 
means. At the same time he supported the Demo- 
cratic party because other parties as he thought 
had combined, with slavery as a pretext, to over- 
throw the Democratic regime in order to gain politi- 
cal supremacy for themselves. 

In the summer of 1856 he announced to his 
readers that owing to the tension between political 
parties and the unreasonable, partisan way in which 
a certain Dutch newspaper of Wisconsin supported 
the newly organized Republican party, he had been 
goaded to dedicate three columns of The Pella 
Gazette to the good of countrymen who could read 
only the Dutch language : *'In that space more real 
good can certainly be said than the Nieuwsbode has 
ever delivered in a whole number". Then followed 
editorials on political questions for several months. 
He later congratulated the wooden-shoe nation of 
Lake Prairie Township on its aid in securing the 
triumph of the Democrats in Marion County, and 
again on casting 345 votes for Buchanan as against 
136 for Fremont.'" 

In the summer of 1857 the Hollanders of Lake 
Prairie Township presented an almost solid Demo- 
cratic front and voted down the Republican party 
draft of a new State constitution by a vote of 270 to 
63 ; and by a vote of 280 to 6 they declared that the 
negro should not be allowed the right of suffrage. 
On the latter point Marion County voters were al- 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 227 

most unanimous — the total vote standing 1748 to 
24. It was at this time that Scholte wrote the fol- 
lowing : 

Our society consists, in about equal numbers, of Ameri- 
cans — the descendants of the men who planted the stand- 
ard of popular sovereignty on this continent — and of Hol- 
landers — the progeny of those who were the first to main- 
tain in Europe religious and political liberty and the right 
of men to govern themselves, who humbled Spain, burnt the 
Royal men-of-war of Great Britain in sight of the British 
capital, placed William III upon the throne of England, 
and laid the foundation of the Empire State. A few Ger- 
mans and Irish complete our numbers. 

Intermarriages between the different white nationalities 
indicate that distinction on account of place of birth is un- 
known among us; but we have not lost our self-respect so 
completely, as to open our family circles to amalgamation 
with the black race. . . . We do propose overwhelm- 
ingly to vote down the infamous principle of Negro 
Equality.-"- 

At the joint convention of the Senate and House 
of Representatives of Iowa, held on January 26, 
1858, James W. Grimes was elected United States 
Senator; John Teesdale became State Printer, and 
Henry P. Scholte was defeated by F. M. Mills for 
State Binder: each victor received sixty-four, each 
vanquished candidate forty-one votes, the Repub- 
licans winning. 

During the early months of 1859 Scholte was 
elected a delegate to the Democratic State Conven- 
tion. Great was the astonishment when he did not 
attend, and very great indeed when he appeared at 



228 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

the Republican State Convention and helped nomi- 
nate Samuel J. Kirkwood for Governor. It was re- 
ported : "Mr. Scliolte is in attendance from Marion 
County as a Republican delegate. He represents a 
large body of Hollanders who have heretofore voted 
the Democratic ticket. The accession of Mr, Scholte 
and those he represents will give us Marion County 
with a gain of two Representatives and one Sena- 
tor."'°^ 

"I consider it no dishonor for any man to change 
his political principles if he becomes convinced that 
they were wrong", wrote Scholte in regard to his 
desertion to the ranks of the Republicans. ' ' On the 
contrary I should deem it dishonorable to hold fast 
to principles of government for party's sake, when 
a man is in conscience convinced that those prin- 
ciples are wrong." As a genuine disciple and ad- 
herent of Henry Clay he was convinced, he said, that 
he could ''never become identified with the so-called 
Democracy, without sacrificing every honorable con- 
viction .... upon the altar of so-called party 
interest. Not being prepared to stoop so low as 
that, there was no other way for me but to leave the 
party. ' ' 

Scholte could no longer be allied with a party 
which was behaving itself so foolishly on the slavery 
question. He said he had no apology to make to 
the Democracy for favors received, and that hence- 
forth his object would be ''the conversion of politi- 
cal sinners and heretics ; the conviction of the misin- 
formed and misguided; and the strengthening of 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 229 

the faithful lovers of liberty, independence, and 
union ".^°* 

But whatever Scholte's views were on political 
questions during those pre-rebellion days and how- 
ever he may have communicated to his neighbors his 
ideas in favor of Republicanism, the Hollanders 
were still strongly Democratic in the State election 
of 1859 when they cast about 364 votes for Augustus 
C. Dodge and 146 for Samuel J. Kirkwood for Gov- 
ernor. On January 25, 1860, at the Republican State 
Convention held at Iowa City, Scholte was elected 
as a delegate-at-large to the Chicago Convention 
which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. 
He afterwards urged the voters, instead of sending 
pettifoggers to make noise and confusion, ''to 
work and vote with a will for Lincoln, Hamlin, and 
Curtis, and for the worthy candidates for our State 
ofiSces, not forgetting that our county government, 
as a general thing, is very badly managed through 
democratic misrule. ' ' ^°^ 

Nevertheless, in the autumn election of 1860 
Marion County (the Hollanders included) cast a ma- 
jority of ninety-nine votes for Stephen A. Douglas 
for President. It is asserted that though Pella and 
vicinity had been almost exclusively Democratic, 
Scholte's efforts through his newspaper resulted in 
many desertions to Republican ranks, and Demo- 
cratic power in this Dutch stronghold was consider- 
ably curtailed not only by his newspaper articles but 
also by a pamphlet on "American Slavery ".-"*' 

After the election of Abraham Lincoln to the 



230 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

presidency, the secession of several Southern States 
from the Union threw the country into war. Gov- 
ernor Kirkwood's appeal for volunteers did not go 
unheeded among the Hollanders of Iowa. Funds 
were collected at Pella to encourage volunteers, and 
Scholte offered a lot of land in North Pella to every 
volunteer. These lots were later called ''soldier 
lots". A few men, heads of families who were 
drafted into the service, were replaced by substi- 
tutes paid with funds which the Hollanders contrib- 
uted for that purpose. The women of Pella also, 
like other women in Iowa, were active in collecting 
and forwarding necessities for the sick and wounded 
soldiers.^'^^ 

No less than sixty-three Hollanders from Pella, 
twelve from Keokuk, twenty-four from Muscatine, 
three from Burlington, six from Dubuque, and a few 
from other towns enlisted in Iowa infantry and 
cavalry regiments ; and a number did not return 
home from fields of battle. They served the country 
in the battles and skirmishes of campaigns in the 
South. By their valor and bravery they at least 
showed that Democrats could espouse the Union 
cause against secession States ; and although the city 
of Pella was the home of a numerous Democratic 
element called the ''Copperheads" — an appellation 
which denoted the character of their attacks upon 
President Lincoln's administration and Governor 
Kirkwood's proposal to raise a loan of $800,000 for 
defence — there were no Hollanders implicated in 
such treasonable practices.""* 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 231 

During the early months of the war after the 
first reverses of the Union armies, Pella men showed 
their loyalty and forgot party by supporting the 
Union cause. Scholte warmly advocated Republican 
principles and just as strenuously attacked Demo- 
cratic pro-slavery views. By their acts the Hol- 
landers, especially the young men, showed that they 
were body and soul in sympathy with the northern 
attitude toward slavery. All were well conversant 
with American affairs in 1860 and realized what 
issues were at stake. 

Political party activity among the Hollanders 
living in the vicinity of Pella in three counties has 
moved along the same Democratic groove since the 
time when they first commenced to use the ballot 
box. They have seldom been addressed by political 
orators in their native tongue, but since 1861 through 
the columns of an influential Democratic newspaper 
printed in the Dutch language they have been kept 
well posted on public questions and political affairs 
of city, county. State, and Nation. 

A slight Republican majority for Kirkwood, can- 
didate for Governor in 1861, showed the attitude of 
Marion County and Dutch voters during that crisis, 
and was unique because Marion County has gen- 
erally been devotedly Democratic. In the years 1863 
and 1865 the county again appeared strongly Demo- 
cratic for James H. Tuttle and Thomas H. Benton, 
Jr. A radical Republican newspaper in the Eng- 
lish language was launched at Pella in 1865 ; but this 
organ survived only a short time. Another news- 



232 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

paper, published in Dutch and devoted to the in- 
terests of the Eepublican party, lasted for only two 
years. 

After Lincoln and Grant had received slight 
presidential majorities in 1864 and 1868, Democratic 
conservatism once more came to the surface in 
Marion County. Election returns for 1875, 1881, 
and 1885 showed that Lake Prairie Township polled 
the heaviest Democratic vote in the county and since 
1887 the Pella wards and Lake Prairie Township 
have been strongly Democratic. In 1897 Bryan re- 
ceived a heavy vote for the presidency, and in 1898 
White was strongly endorsed for the governorship. 
Bryan was again a strong favorite over McKinley 
in 1901. Since 1902, however, the Republicans have 
been slightly reducing Democratic strength in the 
Dutch strongholds. But even Roosevelt, with his 
Dutch name and Dutch ancestry, failed to get the 
support of a majority of the burghers of Pella and 
of the farmers of such Dutch townships as Lake 
Prairie and Summit in Marion County, and Rich- 
land and Black Oak in Mahaska County. President 
Taft fared badly among the Hollanders of this part 
of Iowa in 1908.=^°^ 

Although the Hollanders of Pella and vicinity 
have always been fairly faithful in their attendance 
at the polls, they have not often occupied county 
offices — due to the fact, of course, that they have 
spread out over three adjoining counties, thus spoil- 
ing chances for a solid Dutch vote. By a judicious 



PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS 233 

exchange of votes, however, a Hollander has occa- 
sionally been rewarded with a ^'political plum". 

The first Dutchman elected to county office was 
Auke H. Viersen, who was treasurer and recorder 
during the early years of the Civil War. In 1865 
the Eepresentative from Marion County was B. 
Van Leuven, a Pell a merchant but a Knickerbocker 
by birth. In 1868 and 1870 Henry L. Bousquet be- 
came county clerk. Henry Hospers, nominee for 
State Representative, was among the Democratic 
candidates who were snowed under in the autumn 
election of 1869. If he had been successful, one may 
only speculate as to whether or not a prosperous 
Dutch colony would ever have risen on the prairies 
of Sioux County. 

Pierre H, Bousquet was a county supervisor in 
1869, as were Herman F. Bousquet and Henry L. 
Bousquet in 1874 and 1877; and Sipke H. Viersen 
became recorder in 1872. Viersen had been placed 
upon the Republican ticket as a bid for the Dutch 
vote: the Republicans of Knoxville hoped in this 
way to make their ticket successful, but they did all 
they could to defeat the Dutch candidate. Had it 
not been for the votes of some sixty Democrats in 
Lake Prairie Township, Viersen would have been 
beaten by his so-called Republican friends. 

Since 1886 Dieles van Zante, Leendert van den 
Linden, J. B. Vriezelaar, and D. G. van Zante have 
been county supervisors at various times from the 
Pella district ; while Stephen de Cook served in Ma- 
haska County. Other officials of Marion County 



234 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

were Auke H. Viersen, Teunis Tysseling, D. W. 
Langerak, G. van der Wilt, B. Kersbergen, and 
Meyer Langerak. Herman Rietveld, the Dutch 
Democratic candidate for State Representative who 
was elected in March, 1898, to complete the unex- 
pired term of H. M. McCully, an American citizen of 
Pella, was defeated for reelection in 1899. Dutch 
voters were reminded at election time that Sioux 
County had been represented in the lower house of 
the legislature by a Dutchman and that the Hol- 
landers of Marion County deserved the same 
honor.^^° 



XXIX 

POLITICS IN SIOUX COUNTY 

When the Hollanders established themselves in the 
southeastern townships of Sioux County they found 
politics and county offices in the hands of a few Amer- 
icans at Calliope, the county seat and only town. 
Dutch voters were almost at once as numerous as 
American settlers, and at the first election they 
placed two of their candidates in office: Tjeerd 
Heemstra became chairman of the county board of 
supervisors in January, 1871, and Jelle Pelmulder 
became clerk of the district court, a position which 
he retained continuously until 1887 — the longest 
term ever held by an officer of Sioux County. 

In the autumn of 1871 the Hollanders nominated 
three candidates, one of them an American, for 
county office and later elected them: Henry Hos- 
pers as member of the board of supervisors, and A. 
J. Betten as auditor. The victorious Hollanders had 
the pleasure of driving twenty-three miles across 
country through blizzards and cold weather to per- 
form their duties at Calliope. Thus in January, 
1872, three officers-elect journeyed from Orange City 
to the county seat where the board of supervisors 
convened. Hospers took the oath of office; but 
when his comrades came forward and presented 

235 



236 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

their ofScial bonds the Calliope members of the board 
refused to accept them. Three times they balked 
despite the vigorous protests of Hospers. 

Incensed by this unreasonable policy of the 
American office-holders, about one hundred and 
fifty men, three-fifths of whom were Hollanders, 
hitched up their teams one bitterly cold day in Jan- 
uary and drove to Calliope in ''bob-sleds" to ex- 
ercise their powers of persuasion. It is reported 
that when this long train of horses and sleds ap- 
peared in sight of the courthouse, the chairman of 
the board of supervisors hastily adjourned; and 
as he was preparing to flee to the Dakotas the angry 
Hollanders arrived, unhitched his team, and told 
him he had better attend to business, approve the 
bonds, and place their men in office. 

A Sioux City lawyer, aided by Hospers, pleaded 
the merits of the case for a few hours while the 
Orange City men tended to their horses and fried 
' ' bacon and ham of which there was a good quantity, 
found in a barrel in the court-house." All argu- 
ments fell upon deaf ears, and the upshot of the 
controversy was that the visitors called upon the 
county treasurer to surrender his key in order to 
give them access to the county records and docu- 
ments. Wlien they obtained a key which failed to 
open, they backed a sled against one corner of the 
courthouse, chopped a large hole in the building, 
let down the steel safe, and started back across the 
prairies in a blizzard. All arrived home at mid- 
night, without the hea\y safe which was stuck in a 



POLITICS IN SIOUX COUNTY 237 

snowdrift. When they hauled their booty into 
Orange City the next day, it is said that ' ' a thousand 
gnns were fired in honor of the occasion." Some 
days later the sheriff came to announce that the 
board of supervisors would capitulate, and so with 
several yoke of oxen he bore the safe and its con- 
tents back to Calliope. The Hollanders, however, 
had won their iSrst victory over 'Hhe trappers and 
hunters" of the Big Sioux E-iver.-^^ 

After the colonists had circulated and signed a 
petition requesting the removal of the county seat 
in a legal manner, they outvoted the old Calliope 
gang and secured the choice of Orange City as the 
new seat of justice. At the same time they retained 
Pelmulder, Betten, and Hospers in office, and the 
next year added Nicholas Jongewaard as sheriff, 
leaving three offices to Americans. Most note- 
worthy was the fact that while the Dutch of Pella 
had been conservatively Democratic the Dutch of 
Sioux County were overwhelmingly Republican. In 
1873 they gave Governor Carpenter ten times as 
many votes as his rival, Jacob G. Vale.^^^ 

Early in 1873 Sioux County was sued on several 
thousands of dollars worth of bonds — an action 
which Hospers fought through several years of liti- 
gation. The Hollanders had found the county 
legally organized '4n the hands of a band of free- 
booters, buccaneers of the prairies, looters, and 
grafters who had gone there for the express pur- 
pose of organizing the form of a county govern- 
ment that they might rob it, sell its securities, and 



238 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

impose a burden on the community that should de- 
velop in the future." 

Dutch citizens were thus face to face with a huge 
bonded debt of thousands of dollars for which they 
had nothing tangible to show. In May, 1874, they 
voted not to levy a ten-mill tax for the payment of 
these fraudulent bond issues. Not until 1876 did 
Hospers, chairman of the board of supervisors, carry 
the battle to a victory by settling the case out of 
court for about seven hundred dollars ! A commit- 
tee of the State legislature in 1876 reported that 
the days of unprincipled men who fattened them- 
selves upon the credit of Sioux County had passed 
away and that affairs were economically and pru- 
dently managed. ^^^ 

During the summer of ]874 a courthouse arose 
upon the public square at Orange City; and in 1876 
a jail was erected and a poor-farm was laid out 
near town. In that year also the board of super- 
visors offered a premium of $2000 to any one who 
should discover coal in the county, and later raised 
the sum to $3000. One settler some years before 
had traded his homestead for mules and horses and 
started out on a serious search, but neither he nor 
any one else ever found a trace of coal."^* 

One of the important political events of the year 
1874 in Sioux County was the establishment of a 
Dutch newspaper by Henry Hospers — who had al- 
so founded the first Dutch newspaper in Marion 
County. The editor declared at the outset that his 
paper was not to be the organ of any definite politi- 



POLITICS IN SIOUX COUNTY 239 

cal principles ; nor was it bound to any party. But, 
he said, "we propose to spare no effort to encourage 
good-will and harmony among our colonists, even 
though it may become our unpleasant duty now and 
then to expose to public contempt the dealings and 
intrigues of selfish persons." Elsewhere Hospers 
proclaimed: ''We propose to guard the interests 
of our colony, to promote harmony, to fight inter- 
ference with our united strength as voters, to expose 
to contempt every person who desires disunion, and 
to publish an account of his intrigues and personal 
conduct in such plain Dutch language that every 
Holland- American farmer may understand. ' ' '^^ 

In De Volksvriend (The People's Friend) Hos- 
pers faithfully reported the proceedings of the 
county board of supervisors and also translated the 
proclamations and messages of the governors. He 
likewise showed an active interest in the political 
movements in the county, especially during the au- 
tumn of 1875. A county convention had been called 
where the delegates from American townships had 
not merely ignored the Hollanders but openly raised 
the slogan of ' ' Down with the Dutch ! ' ' The Yankee 
delegates might as well have unfurled a banner with 
the motto : ' ' No foreigner in office ! ' ' The Hol- 
landers who represented about two-fifths of the 
voters withdrew in disgust and allowed the Amer- 
icans to arrange their own program. De Volks- 
vriend loudly reprimanded the Americans and their 
candidates for slandering the Hollanders in order 



240 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

to procure votes, and accused them of introducing 
such a nefarious spirit even in township affairs. 

Three days before election the editor of De 
Volksvriend indignantly asked: "Will you allow 
this sort of thing! Drop your threshing and come 
to the polls — let's vote as one man — don't let 
them win by your staying at home. Bring your 
neighbors — 'eendracht maakt macht' (in union 
there is strength). Don't vote for Plumbe but for 
the candidate whose name you will find on our 
ticket." 

Great was Dutch jubilation when election results 
became known. De Volksvriend featured the news 
with a large crowing cock and two columns of big 
type; and greeted its readers as follows: "Well 
done Hollanders! Holland, Nassau, East Orange 
and Floyd townships, you have worked as one man! 
Our whole ticket was chosen with a majority of 
from 130 to 160. It showed the unanimity of our 
Hollanders — what we can do when united. Two 
Dutchmen and three Americans were elected. . . . 
Unprincipled men used dishonorable means to des- 
troy our power, but with Batavian and Frisian fist- 
blows their Know-Nothing designs were demolished. 
An 'Aesculapius' even intends to depart." -^'^ 

The Hollanders who were to hold office during 
the year 1876 were Jelle Pelmulder, Anthony J. 
Betten, Francis Le Cocq, Simon Kuyper, and Henry 
Hospers; while the six other officials, including two 
supervisors, were Americans. Township election 
returns for 1875 showed that the Hollanders of the 



POLITICS IN SIOUX COUNTY 241 

four townships mentioned above cast 275 of the 
entire number of 470 votes in the county for Gov- 
ernor Samuel J. Kirkwood; while Democrats from 
the same townships were responsible for only 40 of 
the 90 votes in the county for Shepherd Leffler. 
Since 1875 the townships of Nassau, Floyd, and East 
Orange, with their strong German element, have of- 
ten gone Democratic; but Holland, Sherman, Wel- 
come, and West Branch townships have been solidly 
Eepublican. 

With the exception of ante-Hollander days, Sioux 
County has always produced substantial Republican 
majorities for Governors and very large ones for 
Presidents. For instance, the voters gave Governor 
Cummins 1908 votes in 1903 and Sullivan 1027, while 
in 1904 they cast 2994 votes for Roosevelt and 1151 
for Parker. In several townships where majorities 
were ordinarily Democratic in county and State 
elections. Republicans preponderated at presidential 
elections. It would appear from this fact that the 
Dutch voter tends to shirk his duty to vote. Gen- 
erally speaking the Hollanders have faithfully lis- 
tened to the call of their Republican leaders. In 
late years they have chosen to ally themselves with 
the progressive wing of the party, but they have not 
cared to draw party lines too closely when a Dutch 
Democrat and an American Republican were candi- 
dates for the same county office : one Hollander, a 
Democrat, has been sheriff for about twelve years 
since his first election in 1891.^^^ 

To show that the Hollanders are a factor in the 



242 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

polities of Sioux Comity it is interesting- to (jiiote 
some Duteli names and statistics. Dui'iii^" tlu; period 
from 1870 to 1912, Antliony J. Betten and (j|eor<^e J. 
Bolks held the office of county treasurer for lift(!en 
years ; Anthony J. Betten, Henry J. Lenderink, Ed. 
de Mots, .John Boeyink, and Ilermaii T(i Paske 
served twenty-two years as auditoi's; h'raiicis JjO 
Cocq, Henry J. Lenderink, and John Jong'ewaard 
were county recorders for eighteen years; JeiJc; Pel- 
muJder and E. C. Oj^gel were clerks of court for 
twenty-one years; Nicholas Jon^ewaard, Jierman 
Betten, Peter R. Schaap and Albert Balk(!ma were 
sheriffs for twenty years; Simon Knyjx'r and .John 
Kolvoord su[)erintended s(;liools i'or t(Ui years; I'eter 
van Oosterhout, Anthony Te Paske, and John W. 
Hospers officiated as i)rosecuting attorneys for four- 
teen years; and Albert de Bey, .Joim Warnshuis, 
Prank ,j. 'Iluizen^a, Albert (/, .Jonj^ewaard, and 1). 
.J. (ileysteen performed the duties of coroner for 
nin(it(uni years. As members of tlu^ board of sup(H'- 
visors tin; Dutch votc^rs have elected in the third 
district .Jacob Koolbeek, Anthony J. Betten, Arie 
van der Meide, and Chas. Harmelink, and Henry 
Hospers and Arnold van der Wilt in other dis- 
tricts.==^« 

Political ideas amon^ tli(! Hollanders of Sioux 
County were considerably stimulated when the Sioux 
Center NierursJdad and De Vrije Ifollander (The 
Free ITollander) of Orange City came into existence 
in 1892. The former newspaper and De Volksvriend 
have supported Republican policies, while the latter 



POLITICS IN SIOUX COUNTY 24:i 

has been radically Democratic. The first editor of 
De Vrije Hollander tl^irew into his work a fiery en- 
thusiasm and partisanship that will long be remem- 
bered by his readers. No more characteristic ex- 
pression of his views can be cited than his editorials 
during the administrations of McKinley and Koose- 
velt. He did not hesitate to remonstrate against the 
former's imperial policy as indicated by the war in 
Cuba and the Philippine Islands; and he asked Hol- 
landers how they could remain Republicans while 
McKinley and lioosevelt quietly allowed Great 
Britain to trample upon the Transvaal and kill the 
Boers, a people of Dutch ancestry. ITie Hollanders 
of America — as well as those perennial enemies of 
England, the Irish — naturally advocated American 
intervention in South Africa, and many did not for- 
give the government for refusing to aid the South 
African Dutch in their struggle against "British 
lust".'^'^ (See Appendix B.) 

Three times have the voters of Sioux County re- 
jected the proposition to relocate the county seat. 
Sioux Center asked for the courthouse in 1891 and 
1800, and Alton citizens offered a large bonus in 
1901. Both towns were decisively defeated at the 
polls. By voting in favor of bonds in December, 
1901, the people put an end to all rivalry: Orange 
City obtained for all time a beautiful new court- 
house and county jail."' 

Among their accomxjlishments in the field of Ee- 
publican politics the Hollanders of Sioux County 
point with the greatest pride to the election of Henry 



244 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Hospers as Representative in the Twenty-second and 
the Twenty-third General Assemblies and later as 
State Senator for two terms. Founder of the Dutch 
colony, and ''guide, philosopher, and friend" to the 
Hollanders individually and collectively, Hospers 
was honored not only by them but also by other 
classes of immigrants who had poured into Sioux 
County: he retained his leadership because he pos- 
sessed the qualities of integrity, determination, and 
courage. An Iowa editor observed on the occasion 
of Hospers 's death in 1901 that he "will never be 
accorded half the honor that is his right for his con- 
tribution to developing northwestern Iowa. He was 
one of the men who deserve foremost places in the 
history of a great State." ^"^ 

Only one other Hollander has reached the State 
House of Representatives from Sioux County. Ger- 
rit Klay of Orange City came to America in 1883 at 
the age of sixteen, engaged in farming, later applied 
himself to the study of law, was admitted to the bar 
in 1897, and obtained a seat in the General Assembly 
in 1908 and again in 1910. At the same time the 
Dutch of Sioux County as well as other citizens of 
the "Big Four" senatorial district of northwestern 
Iowa have recently had the honor of being repre- 
sented by Nicholas Balkema of Sioux Center, a man 
who was born in the Dutch colony of Sheboygan 
County, Wisconsin, emigrated to Iowa in 1884, 
gained success as a merchant, and in 1908 was elected 
State Senator.^^^ 



XXX 

THE DUTCH PRESS IN IOWA 

Henry P. Scholte and Edwin H. Grant formed a 
partnership, erected a two-story building for the 
purposes of a printing establishment, and on the first 
of February, 1855, issued the initial number of The 
Pella Gazette with its double motto : ''Independent 
in Everything" and ''In Deo Spes Nostra et Refu- 
gium." The reason for not founding a newspaper 
in the Dutch language was revealed in an editorial 
which is characteristic of Scholte 's enthusiasm and 
illustrative of his hopes. After presenting a brief 
historical sketch of the town of Pella he concluded 
as follows : 

The consequence, is, that at present the native Ameri- 
can population in and around the town has become about 
equal to the number of the foreign-born and naturalized 
citizens. In the schools the Enghsh language is predomi- 
nant and the Sabbath School is taught in EngUsh. This, 
together with inter-marriage between native and foreign- 
born citizens, will leave in a few years but little difference 
between Pella and other more exclusive American towns. 
But we hope that the renowned industrj^ order, honesty 
and piety of the Holland character will show for ages their 
marks, in the increasing neatness of town and country, in 
the goodness of the roads and highways, in the most scien- 
tific cultivation of the soil, in the scarcity of lawyers and 

245 



246 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

lawsuits, in the increase of schools and other institutions 
of learning, and in the multiplication of houses of religious 
worship. 

Scholte had acquired a good speaking knowledge 
of the English language, but like most Hollanders 
experienced no little difficulty as a writer. The fol- 
lowing is not only a fair specimen of his style dur- 
ing the first few months, but also an indication of 
his feelings on a subject which lay close to his heart 
and caused him several times to warn his American 
neighbors : 

We must finally make one remark about the Hollanders. 
Commonly they are considered Germans. That is not only 
untrue, but in several instances it is considered by Hol- 
landers as an insult, — about in the same manner as if one 
would consider a native of England as an Irishman. Per- 
haps there cannot be found on the globe one nation who is 
naturally more apt to become perfectly identified with the 
American nation than the Hollanders. 

The Empire State of the Union has given indubitable 
proof of our assertion, and there is no fear that the de- 
scendants of a people who held out against Spain, when it 
was in its full blaze of glory, who drove Louis XIV from 
their soil, where he had already, by the mismanagement of 
their own momentary magistrates, penetrated with his 
armies in the heart of their country, and whose republican 
heroes burnt the royal sliips of Britain in the sight of Lon- 
don, will be a detriment to the American nation. On the 
contrary when Holland solidity is united with American in- 
quisitiveness and enterprise, it will make a composition 
which will endure the severest trials and prove to be a bene- 
fit to the State, the I^nion and the World.--^ 



THE DUTCH PRESS IN IOWA 247 

The fact that many thousands of newspapers 
were issued throughout the United States to millions 
of eager readers excited the wonder of the Hol- 
landers, who had been accustomed in their father- 
land to club together for the reading of a few news- 
papers and periodicals. They were at first sur- 
prised to find that every American town of impor- 
tance had a daily or a weekly, and that every good 
American read his own newspaper, sometimes two 
or three, regularly; but when they discovered the 
Ajnerican's intense interest in politics and the low 
price of American newspapers they ceased wonder- 
ing. They learned that The Weekly New York 
Tribune with nearly 200,000 readers cost only one 
dollar per year, though it was eight times the size of 
Het Amsterdamsche Handelshlad.-^* 

In a community where the majority of inhabi- 
tants could read Dutch only, Scholte recognized a 
need and accordingly he inserted in The Pella 
Gazette a notice headed: "Hollandsche Courant". 
He promised to issue a Dutch newspaper for the 
Hollanders upon receiving the guarantee of a suf- 
ficient number of subscribers at the rate of one dol- 
lar and a half a year in advance. The Hollanders 
of Pella, however, failed to take advantage of the 
offer."^ 

According to an estimate made by the postmaster 
in 1856 the number of newspapers and periodicals 
which came to Pella was ''extraordinarily large". 
Among them were two newspapers printed in Dutch : 
De Hollander from Michigan and De Nieuivshode 



248 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

from Wisconsin. The latter by its unreasonably 
partisan advocacy of Republican principles drove 
Scholte to devote a few columns of his newspaper to 
news which might be read by the Hollanders at Pella 
who could not read English. ''Several times", he 
declared, "I have been asked to publish a Dutch 
newspaper. Inasmuch as there were two such sheets 
in existence, and the Hollanders, who know no Eng- 
lish, are in general not busy readers, I have wavered 
and always said, that I was ready whenever they of- 
fered me a subscription list which would guarantee 
expenses." 

Scholte now decided, however, to print several 
columns of news in the Dutch language, and he de- 
clared that in case the subscribers manifested a real, 
live interest he would either continue this policy or 
even publish a separate Dutch newspaper. Every- 
one who approved his plan was urged to subscribe 
at the rate of one dollar for a half year. When the 
period had expired, Scholte notified his readers that 
"Holland news will be discontinued", and also that 
he would publish a Dutch newspaper, De Unie, if he 
could get seven hundred subscribers. They were 
promised all the news, civil and religious, from Hol- 
land and the United States that was worth knowing. 
But again the Hollanders missed their oppor- 
tunity."** 

In September, 1857, The Pella Gazette suddenly 
ceased publication : its paper supply was exhausted ; 
subscribers failed to pay their subscriptions ; Amer- 
icans refused their patronage ; the population was so 



THE DUTCH PRESS IN IOWA 249 

largely Dutch; and business men did not advertise. 
On July 22, 1859, the Gazette was resuscitated by S. 
M. Hammond under the editorship of Scholte, and 
it flew the Republican banner for campaign purposes 
until it once more ceased to be issued on February 
22, 1860. Thereafter Scholte wrote many articles on 
contemporaneous politics which appeared above his 
signature in various Iowa newspapers.-" 

The Hollanders of Pella in the year 1860 must 
have kept themselves informed on current events 
largely through the medium of the American press 
of Marion County and through Dutch newspapers 
from other States. Some of the Hollanders, es- 
pecially the younger generation, were now well able 
to read English; but the Holland-born members of 
the community were also enabled to follow national 
movements by reading the Dutch newspapers pub- 
lished in Wisconsin and Michigan. That a Dutch 
newspaper had not yet been published at Pella seems 
strange when there were between two and three 
thousand Hollanders in the community. 

A newspaper in the Dutch language had, how- 
ever, been contemplated for some time. In the year 
1861 Rev. P. J. Oggel and Henry Hospers canvassed 
the situation, secured the necessary capital, organ- 
ized an association of ten share-holders, and pur- 
chased the printing-office and supplies of the defunct 
Pella Gazette. On the 28th of September, 1861, Hos- 
pers issued, the first number of Pella' s Weekblad. 
It contained American and European news, es- 
pecially news from Holland and the Dutch settle- 



250 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ments in America, editorials on politics, translations 
of Iowa laws, and items of State and local interest."^ 

Since Bella's Weekblad reported only political, 
social, and economic affairs and lacked religious 
news, Bella's Maandhlad began to appear in con- 
junction with the TFee/c&Zfff? once a month after April, 
1862. Edited by Rev. P. J. Oggel and devoted to the 
interpretation of the Holy Scriptures and to reli- 
gious news from all sources, this publication contin- 
ued until its editor left Pella in 1863.-'''^ 

To offset the Democratic influence of Bella's 
Weekblad, the radically Republican Bella Blade ap- 
peared in 1865. After a hard struggle to survive it 
came into the hands of a Dutch newspaper man, H. 
Neyenesch, under whose direction for over twenty 
years it developed into the foremost Democratic 
newspaper in the English language in the com- 
munity."^** 

From September, 1866, until his death in 1868, 
Scholte published De Toekomst (The Future), a 
monthly periodical devoted to religion. In his ''In 
Memoriam" at the time of Scholte 's death on August 
25, 1868, the editor of Bella's Weekblad asserted that 
it would be impossible for people "to forget the 
pearls of wisdom which lie collected in his monthly 
De Toekomst, and which he has left behind as a 
legacy, as it were, to believers, to testify to his 
comprehensive knowledge of the Bible and his clear 
insight into the living realities of the Gospel." ^^^ 

In March, 1867, Gerrit van Ginkel, who had 
learned the printer's trade on Bella's Weekblad, be- 



THE DUTCH PRESS IN IOWA 251 

gan the publication of a Republican newspaper in 
the Dutch language, De Pella Gazette. He discon- 
tinued the enterprise in 1869, contracted with the 
Weekblad to assume the obligations of his unexpired 
subscriptions, and later amassed a considerable for- 
tune as a result of business ventures at Des Moines 
and in the cities of Springfield, Illinois, and Dallas, 
Texas. ^^^ 

Bella's Weekblad has always been widely read 
among the Hollanders of Pella and vicinity. There 
was a time when the Weekblad had agents at Keo- 
kuk, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Holland, 
and Kalamazoo, Michigan; Little Chute, Appleton, 
Milwaukee, Green Bay, Cedar Grove, Amsterdam, 
and Woodland, Wisconsin; Paterson, New Jersey; 
Roxbury, Massachusetts; Clearwater, Minnesota; 
Excelsior Mills, Illinois; and also in The Nether- 
lands. Henry Hospers, the first editor, eventually 
sold his establishment to H. Neyenesch in June, 1870, 
and went to live among the energetic, young colonists 
of Sioux County. 

The Weekblad in 1880 could boast that it was one 
of the largest Dutch newspapers in the United States 
with subscribers in nearly every State and Terri- 
tory, and with the largest circulation of any news- 
paper in Marion County. It had a Dutch rival in 
Pella' s Nieuivsblad for over two years previous to 
October 4, 1901. Bella's Weekblad has continued 
down to date, owned and published by H. F. John- 
son & Co., and although newspapers from Holland 
and from other Dutch-American settlements are to 



252 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

be found among the inhabitants, except for De 
Christelijke Uitdeeler, a monthly religious magazine 
published by K. van Stigi, it is the only Dutch news- 
paper printed among the Hollanders of south central 
lowa.-^^ 

Newspapers in the Dutch language have been 
more numerous among the Hollanders of Sioux 
County. Bella's Weekblad has always circulated 
among them to a limited extent. The Sioux County 
Herald — removed from Calliope to Orange City — 
for a time printed some news in the Dutch language. 
On June 18, 1874, however, Henry Hospers, who had 
been the founder of Bella's Weekblad, issued the 
first number of De Volksvriend, which "humbly 
made its bow and timidly took its place among the 
well-directed Dutch newspapers of America." The 
editor expressed himself further as follows : 

To accomplish our aims in issuing De Volksvriend de- 
mands more ability than we know we possess. Our purpose 
is great, our powers small ! If we stop to consider the well- 
directed Dutch newspapers published in America, we hardly 
dare take up our pen; if we look at our beautiful Dutch 
language, so rich in expression as we read it in our ex- 
changes from The Netherlands, we take fright, for we have 
received a training more American than Dutch. We almost 
refuse to place our name at the top of this page as editor. 
But our purpose gives us courage ; even if we feel unfit for 
the task, our purpose strengthens us. . . . 

It is not to kick a little paper into the world for finan- 
cial profit. But it is our aim to point out to our fellow- 
Hollanders a magnificent spot of God's earth where there 
is plenty of opportunity, much promise, for many a Dutch 



THE DUTCH PRESS IN IOWA 253 

household, where the Lord out of His grace, by the conver- 
sion of numerous persons, has shown He is well pleased, 
where there is abundant opportunity to train the rising 
generation. And now to make the facts known far and 
wide, to attract the attention of emigrants to our colony — 
to that end we shall devote De Volksvrierid, we as well as 
others shall write articles, and we hope our fellow-colonists 
will help us spread De Volksvriend. 

Accordingly, De Volksvriend in the early years 
was full of information intended to attract foreign 
immigration to the new Dutch colony. The excel- 
lence of the soil and all other advantages were con- 
tinually advertised. Netherlanders in Europe were 
strongly urged to come: **If you have no money, 
all you need is a good body with two strong arms and 
health; and if you have children, they are the best 
capital you can bring to America. ' ' De Volksvriend 
also printed much foreign news, especially from The 
Netherlands, together with items of interest from 
Pella; and it furnished its readers with general 
American news.^^* 

Locust ravages nearly brought De Volksvriend 
as well as the whole Dutch colony to an untimely 
and disastrous end. Many times the editor threat- 
ened to cease publication unless his readers paid 
their subscriptions or signed notes for the amounts 
due. At one time things had come to such a pass 
that the readers were notified to call at the printing- 
office in person if they wished to get their copies! 
On the other hand, the editor used his newspaper in 
those dark days to encourage and cheer his miserable 



254 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Dutch friends and neighbors. Hospers' faith and 
confidence that the country would ultimately emerge 
into the sunshine of prosperity were to no small de- 
gree communicated to the people through the col- 
umns of De Volksvriend.^^° 

Published for many years by H. P. Oggel, editor 
also of De Heidenivereld (The Heathenworld), a 
monthly missionary magazine, De Volksvriend has 
had rivals in the field since March, 1892, when the 
Sioux Center Nieuwshlad first appeared, and Sep- 
tember, 1892, when De Vrije Hollander was founded 
at Orange City by Martin P. van Oosterhout. In 
late years Charles H. van der Meulen and Peter van 
Donselaar have owned the Sioux Center Nieuivsblad, 
and Henry Toering has published De Vrije Hol- 
lander as a semi-weekly.^^® 

All of these newspapers have circulated among 
the Hollanders of Sioux, Lyon, O'Brien, and Ply- 
mouth counties and other localities in Iowa to which 
Hollanders have removed; all are read by the Hol- 
landers who have left Iowa to try their fortunes in 
Canada, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Colorado, Wash- 
ington, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, and other States. 
One characteristic of these Sioux County news- 
papers and of Bella's Weekhlad is the large amount 
of space set aside for correspondence from Dutch 
communities not only in the neighborhood, but also 
in distant States : local personal news is chronicled 
every week and brought to the knowledge of readers 
who wish to keep in touch with friends and relatives. 

Besides the editors and publishers of Dutch news- 



THE DUTCH PRESS IN IOWA 255 

papers, there are several Hollanders who own and 
operate other newspapers and printing establish- 
ments in Sioux and other counties : Isaac Hospers 
edits The Sioux County Herald ; John F, D. Aue di- 
rects The Alton Democrat ; Wm. C. Muilenburg has 
recently purchased The Grant Chief ; J. W. Vander- 
burg & Co. own The Sheldon Mail-, the Southerland 
Courier is in the hands of G. H. Vos ; The Monroe 
Mirror and Marne Free Press are owned by J. Van- 
dermast and Dirk Tollenaar, respectively ; The Wau- 
kon Standard is published by John DeWild, and The 
Evening Times and The Cedar Rapids Republican 
are edited by Cyrenus Cole, a native of Pella. 

Newspapers in the Dutch lang-uage will exist as 
long as Dutch immigrants continue to find homes 
in the communities of their people in Iowa ; and they 
will prevent the entire disappearance or disuse of 
the Dutch language among the American-born child- 
ren of foreign-born parents. As the years pass, 
Hollanders of the younger generation who receive 
their early training in American public schools tend 
to become more and more accustomed to the speak- 
ing of English ; but Dutch newspapers with their re- 
ports of local news will be one of the potent factors 
which will enable children of Dutch parentage to 
retain at least a fair reading and conversational 
knowledge of their native tongue. (See Appen- 
dix C.) 



XXXI 

PIONEER SCHOOLS AMONG THE 
HOLLANDERS 

Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam in 1621 are 
commonly credited with having founded a little 
school which became the model for an enormous pub- 
lic school system covering the United States and all 
its Territories. Dutch immigrants to America have 
come from a land which has long prided itself on the 
high standard of both its lower schools and its uni- 
versities. And so competent Dutch parents who 
watch the education of their children in American 
common schools seldom fail to compare the systems 
in Holland and America and complain not a little of 
American superficiality and lack of thoroughness. 
One of the motives assigned for the emigration 
in 1846 and 1847 was the desire of many Hollanders 
to educate their children in the principles of the 
Christian faith. Not only the Dutch government 
but also the mass of the Dutch people were hostile 
to the new Separatist congregations which elected 
to worship God according to the Bible rather than 
according to government regulations. And so when 
the Separatists insisted upon their right to educate 
their children in Christian schools in the fear of the 
Lord, they encountered strong local opposition. 

256 



PIONEER SCHOOLS 257 

When the enjoyment of real Christian liberty became 
a vain, forlorn hope, they were forced, after years of 
persecution, to look away from the home and colo- 
nial policy of intolerance in Holland to a land of 
civil and religious liberty. 

Two leaders of the persecuted congregations 
asked the people of Holland : 

Is it not true that, as the clamor for better instruction 
and education becomes louder, even the chief advocates of 
the present system complain of retrogression? And must 
not thousands of professing Christians educated under the 
present system blush at the question whether they know God 
and Jesus Christ better than to use their all-glorious names 
merely to blaspheme ? 

And are not those who pray God, and even offer to 
undertake the trouble and expense to establish their own 
Christian schools and do something to save this sinking na- 
tion, are not they opposed and checked at every step of the 
way ; do not local government bodies evade giving the per- 
mits which the law commands, and are they not supported 
in this by nearly all who call themselves noble and religious ? 
A few local government bodies which would like to grant 
to inhabitants what the law allows do not dare do so, be- 
cause they fear that they will fall into disfavor with men 
higher up.-^'^ 

Elsewhere the same clergymen asserted: 
"With our lack of the goods of this world, we feel the 
pressure of a Government which encroaches upon the ten- 
derest rights of the father and compels him to choose be- 
tween two extremes both of which lead to wretchedness: 
either to let his children grow up in ignorance or send them 
to schools where according to his innermost convictions 



258 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

they are corrupted ; where the Bible, the Word of God, the 
soul's food, the pure river of the water of life which satis- 
fies the thirst and hunger even of children is denied ; denied 
upon request of persons who either bow down before images 
or teach that children should not be burdened with the Word 
of God ; and who .... agree upon the theory which 
dishonors God and exalts man, viz., by your works, at least 
partly by your works, shall ye be saved, and not merely by 
your faith! And are there not clear indications that the 
conscientious teacher is censured for giving instruction in 
the Bible and accused of breaking the law, for which he 
must under all circumstances lose his position ? ^^^ 

Christian education for their children, therefore, 
became one of the things for which Hollanders ex- 
pected to provide as soon as they built homes upon 
American soil. But when they had entered upon 
their American farms in Marion County, they dis- 
covered that what was needed most and first of all 
was hands to help bring nature under subjection. 
All who were able to work were called upon to press 
their physical strength into service. The Hol- 
landers perceived that for the time being it was not 
so much religion and religious education as the 
struggle for existence which demanded the best ef- 
forts of old and young. Scholte himself complained 
that ''the things of this world" and "the new, 
strange, and busy pressure of life in our present un- 
settled condition contribute much to shatter our 
ideals ' '. And he also said : ' ' Nearly everyone ap- 
pears to be so taken up with his own strange en- 
vironment as to be lost in it", and ''the American 



PIONEER SCHOOLS 259 

love of material things is more attractive than 
Heaven." ^^^ 

From the very nature of things, when the Dutch 
settlers had spent most of their money upon farms, 
buildings, and stock, they had only their hands and 
bodies left. The Dutch farmer who had several sons 
in his family considered himself especially fortunate. 
Since there was abundant work to do upon the farms 
and no capital to invest in hired labor, boys came to 
be looked upon as valuable assets, and they were ac- 
cordingly called upon to furnish their share of 
labor — all at the expense of education. Thus only 
boys and girls of tender years found their way into 
school. 

During the early months James Muntingh con- 
verted his log house into a school room; and here 
for three years he is said to have given sound in- 
struction in reading, writing, and arithmetic — to 
children by day and to other persons by candlelight. 
He devoted much time to the languages : Dutch was 
translated into English and English into Dutch, and 
pupils were thoroughly trained to read and write 
both languages. Indeed, the only child of American 
parents living in Pella at that time learned Dutch 
so well that he never forgot it.^" 

In April, 1848, Henry P. Scholte was elected 
township school inspector. No one could have been 
better qualified for the position, though many of his 
friends also were "men of education, refinement, and 
a high order of intelligence". Scholte had the honor 
to be a graduate of the famous Dutch University 



260 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

of Leyden, and so was imbued with the highest 
academic ideals. He took a deep concern in his 
humble duties as school inspector of Lake Prairie 
Township. He divided the township into five school 
districts and at once organized the Pella district 
where Muntingh's private school had already ex- 
isted for a few months. Moreover, he established a 
second district near the Skunk River where the 
Dutch inhabitants soon built a house for their 
school-master.-" 

Not until April or May of the year 1848 
did the Pella colonists complete a building 
twenty-five feet wide and twice as long, which 
was to serve a double purpose as church and school 
room. This small structure possessed an unplaned 
board exterior and a rough interior with cross-beams 
of forest timber. Within stood crude backless pews 
of rough boards and a few school benches made after 
a genuine old-Dutch pattern. Over this township 
school Scholte appointed Isaac Overkamp as master 
and Henry Hospers as reserve. In November, 1848, 
the children were receiving instruction in both Dutch 
and English, similar to that obtained by old and 
young in Muntingh's private school. -*- 

The school-master at Pella taught his pupils what 
the parents desired in the way of Christian prin- 
ciples for the development of Christian character. 
Every morning the opening exercises consisted of 
prayer, the singing of a Psalm, and instruction in 
biblical history. Many years afterward it was as- 
serted that as a teacher of biblical historv for chil- 



PIONEER SCHOOLS 261 

dren and of doctrine for adults, Isaac Overkamp had 
never been surpassed in Pella, and that "during 
Pella's first twenty years he did more real good 
than most ministers do in fifty or sixty years of 
service. ' ' ^** 

As many families of Americans found homes in 
Pella and the village grew larger, the citizens were 
forced to consider the question of what kind of a 
schoolhouse should be built — for as late as April, 
1855, they had used any sort of makeshift for the ac- 
commodation of their children. Was "a crowded, 
ill-furnished, uncomfortable room, opening upon a 
business street or dirty alley, without shade tree, 
playground, or any other pleasant object to it ... . 
as favorable to a healthy physical, intellectual, and 
moral development, as an edifice whose interior com- 
bines comfort, beauty, and convenience; whose ex- 
terior is elegant, and is surrounded by that child- 
ren's paradise, a playground, provided with a neat 
fence, shade trees, and other comforts?" 

The editor of a Pella newspaper addressed the 
parents as follows : "** 

Surely the good people of Pella will not much longer 
consent to send their children to school in a room rented as 
opportunity may permit without regard to comfort, con- 
venience or suitability. We know there is a college going 
up in our midst and right glad and proud are we of it ; but 
a college is not our school-house, our public school, the great 
aorta of our nation, the glory and safety of our free insti- 
tutions; which ought to receive our first and best care. We 



262 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

are not now going to write a defense of public schools but 
about a school-house in Pella. 

In many of the older States, especially in New England, 
New York and Ohio, a course of instruction is adopted called 
Union Schools, and is fast superseding the older method in 
cities, villages and thickly populated country districts. — 
Most of us are familiar with the old method. The towns 
and villages were districted, and a small house consisting 
of one room twenty or twenty-live feet square was built in 
each ward or district in which all of a lawful age who chose 
to do so, attended school. Over this motley group presided 
one teacher, who had to care for and instruct all, from the 
young tyro in his abs, to the young man in philosophy. 
Many of us could record some strange experiences, es- 
pecially in the winter session, when the school was often- 
times three times as large as in the summer, without any 
additional room. 

According to the Union School method, one large house 
is erected sufficient to accommodate all the pupils in the 
place, and more too, if they choose to come from less fa- 
vored places; (and they will come.) A principal is placed 
at the head of the school and under his supervision and 
general control, is placed a corps of efficient teachers. The 
pupils are classed according to their attainments and each 
teacher has his own class or grade, in a distinct apartment 
and thus can attend to fifty pupils with less labor to him- 
self, and more profit to them, than twenty-five in the old 
way. A general plan of instruction is adopted and perse- 
vered in, so the mind of the pupil is not confused by the 
different methods of succeeding teachers, as is too often the 
case in our common schools. Thus Order and System, 
which are Heaven's first law, and the secret of success in 
almost any enterprise are secured. 



PIONEER SCHOOLS 263 

In the autumii of 1854 the Baptists of Pella se- 
cured a two-story brick building of several rooms 
and at once opened an academic department as the 
modest beginning of what they intended should later 
become a university. Early in the year 1855 fifty- 
six boys had enrolled in the ''men's department" 
under two men instructors, and thirty-five girls in 
the "ladies' department", under a lady teacher. 
The pupils were taught preparatory branches. At 
the same time the Hollanders of Pella maintained 
a separate school with Isaac Overkamp and Herman 
Neyenesch as the district teachers, who gave in- 
struction in both Dutch and English. Obviously the 
Dutch inhabitants of the city did not patronize their 
school to a very large extent, for the population of 
Pella would have warranted a much larger corps of 
teachers.^*' 

In 1856, after eight years of existence without a 
good schoolhouse and without adequate instruction, 
the citizens of Pella rejoiced to know that a large 
two-story brick schoolhouse and a three-story college 
hall were being erected, and they hoped soon to be 
able to say "that in these fine buildings, fine teach- 
ers, receiving fine salaries, are training our youth 
to virtue and piety, developing their intellects and 
storing their minds with useful knowledge. ' ' ^^^ 

Common schools in those days were dependent 
upon taxes and tuition. The teachers divided all 
tuition money and received a share of the school 
fund, which was a fixed sum for each pupil taught. 



264 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

When, on New Year's Day, 1857, the editor of the 
Pella newspaper congratulated the people of the 
town on the completion of a school building for the 
use of both Hollanders and Americans, he offered 
only one objection to the arrangements which had 
been made for education : -^^ 

The facilities for public instruction should be such as 
to place its benefits within the reach of every inhabitant, 
and it is clear that high rates of tuition are a material ob- 
struction to this desideratum. According to the regulations 
of the District School in this place, the tuition at the insti- 
tution is eight dollars a year for each pupil. This is too 
high, and too heavy a tax upon such of our citizens as 
enjoy only a scanty share of this world's goods. If the 
benefits of public instruction shall be rendered general these 
rates must be considerably reduced — and if means could 
be devised to dispense with them entirely, it would be bet- 
ter yet. 

The free school is the institution for a country where 
the sovereignty is vested in the people, and where every 
individual has his share in shaping the course followed in 
the conduct of public affairs. Individual prosperity and 
social welfare being closely connected, and the latter de- 
pending chiefly upon the management of public business, 
and, consequently, upon the intelligence of the mass of the 
people, the extension of proper instruction to all classes of 
society is a matter of the highest importance to every mem- 
ber of the community. A school tax, sufficient for its pur- 
pose, and levied indiscriminately on those who send children 
to school, and on those who don't, therefore, is not only a 
just measure, but the only measure to secure the continu- 
ance of social harmony and prosperity. 



PIONEER SCHOOLS 265 

In March, 1858, a new school law went into force 
throughout the State of Iowa. Thenceforth a heav- 
ier tax was levied upon the people for the pajnuent 
of school-teachers, and tuition fees were abolished. 
Parents were informed that free schools removed 
all reason or excuse for not sending their children to 
school under pretence of poverty. To insure com- 
petent teachers all applicants were obliged to secure 
certificates from the county superintendent, a new 
officer.^*^ 

In the spring of 1858 the citizens of Pella were 
summoned to cast their ballots for school directors. 
An editorial by Scholte reveals the prevailing condi- 
tion of local politics everywhere : "" 

It is necessary that every one takes the subject to heart. 
Pecuniary as well as educational interests are involved, and 
it will be wise to elect men of acknowledged integrity and 
capability, who are willing to work for the well-being of 
society. There is a scheme on foot to bring the management 
of the schools under the control of a class of men who are 
known as Know-Nothings. The citizens ought to be on 
their guard, and to keep the dark lantern out of their 
schools. In the school, at least, we want light. 

The citizens of this Township, as well as those of Pella, 
have the power to nip this scheme in the bud, if they will 
only use it, and beware of the evil counsels of designing 
men, who act upon the Satanic principle, ^^ divide and 
ride. ' ' Let the citizens freely exchange their ideas in rela- 
tion to the persons and measures to be voted for on the first 
Monday in May next. We owe this to the rising genera- 
tion, as well as to the society in which we live. 



XXXII 

CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS 

That religious instruction played no great part in 
common schools among the Hollanders is shown by 
the fact that the agitation for a Christian school be- 
gan many years after they arrived in Iowa. Rev. A. 
C. van Raalte, the founder of the Dutch colony in 
Michigan and a strong personal friend of Scholte, 
came to Pella early in the year 1859 to preach for 
five weeks to the pastorless congregation of the 
Dutch Reformed Church. But according to his own 
assertion he wished primarily to interest the Hol- 
landers of Pella in Christian education. At a series 
of meetings he provoked much discussion relative to 
the advisability of founding a Sunday-school and a 
parochial school, but he could not persuade the 
people to act. 

In the month of January, 1861, on the occasion of 
his third visit to Pella, however, it seems, that van 
Raalte had the satisfaction of seeing his ideas bear 
fruit. At a meeting held on the 19th of February, 
1861, a committee selected by the Dutch Reformed 
Church to consider the matter recommended that a 
parochial school be established and that sufficient 
financial support be offered. The recommendation 
was adopted: the first corps of teachers consisted 

266 



CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS 267 

of Isaac Overkamp, Herman Neyenesch, and John 
Stubenraucli. Others served later ; but by the month 
of February, 1867, the school had ceased to exist. 
Indeed, had it not been for the fact that the pew 
rentals of the Dutch Reformed Church had brought 
in one thousand dollars more than necessary to sup- 
port the church each year, the parochial school would 
have breathed its last three years before — just as a 
school established by members of the Second Dutch 
Reformed Church had done in 1863. These two 
Christian schools had provided elementary instruc- 
tion in the Dutch language and in the catechism with 
the idea of enabling children to understand preach- 
ing in the Dutch churches. ^^° 

The disappearance of these institutions was a 
sad reflection upon church-going Hollanders who had 
been such strong advocates of the superiority of 
Christian schools. Scholte cited to them the case 
of Protestant parents who sent their children to 
Roman Catholic convent schools not from a predi- 
lection for that church and her doctrines, but 
in order to obtain superior training in discipline, 
in knowledge, and in the cultivation of good 
taste and refinement. The Hollanders of Pella 
had regarded the privileges of government schools in 
Holland as too meager and limited to conduce to 
well-rounded development in child life : they looked 
upon the training as superficial and the atmosphere 
as unsuitable for the growth of Christian principles 
in the minds of children. And yet they did not 
maintain Christian schools at Pella. Were Amer- 



268 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ican conditions to blame for this? Like the first 
Dutch settlers of Michigan the Hollanders of Iowa 
carelessly allowed their educational program to end 
in failure. ^^^ 

In recent years, however, the idea of Christian 
education has revived and the Hollanders of the 
Christian Reformed Church in Iowa can already 
point with pride to four parochial schools. The dif- 
ficulty of giving public schools a distinctively 
Christian tone became more and more pronounced: 
the introduction of formal instruction in Christian 
morals appeared so increasingly impracticable that 
the school patrons of one Dutch church denomina- 
tion took matters into their own hands. 

The movement for Christian schools emanated 
from Grand Rapids, Michigan, about twenty-five 
years ago ; but not until the year 1903 did the move- 
ment strongly affect the Hollanders in Iowa. Its 
champions asserted that there was no real and com- 
plete education without God's Word, that a public 
school could not properly accommodate people of all 
shades of belief and unbelief, and that the public 
school wholly ignored the child's fundamental need 
of training in religion. They declared that attend- 
ance at Sunday-school, Bible reading at home, and 
mere mental discipline did not sufficiently train the 
child. By "Christian education" they meant not 
only instruction in the Dutch language, not only 
reading from the Bible and repeating the Lord's 
Prayer as so many public schools in Iowa permitted, 
but instruction that ' ' reached the heart by means of 



CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS 269 

the understanding" and moulded the character of 
good young citizens. 

Convinced that the public school, however good 
and sound its instruction might be, could not be 
other than entirely neutral in religious matters, per- 
suaded that if they wanted their children to have an 
education based on Christianity and Bible study they 
would have to set up their own school, many parents, 
members of the Christian Reformed Church, organ- 
ized an association at Orange City in 1904 and 
opened a parochial school which they now main- 
tain at an annual cost of $2500. They support a 
principal and three teachers for about two hundred 
pupils.^" 

In 1905 a similar association was formed at Sioux 
Center where there is a school with three teachers 
for about one hundred and thirty pupils, conducted 
at an annual expense of $1700. The farmers living 
five miles west of Sioux Center established "The 
Hope School" with one teacher, at a cost of $500 
annually. In 1907 many parents living in Richland 
Township, Mahaska Comity, east of Pella, estab- 
lished a school at Peoria and secured one teacher for 
about sixty pupils. These are the only Christian 
schools among the Hollanders of Iowa, but the mem- 
bers of Christian Reformed Church congregations at 
Rock Valley, Boyden, and Hull expect to have schools 
in readiness by the autumn of 1912; while church 
people are very much interested in the movement 
also at Middelburg, Lebanon, Ireton, Doon, and Shel- 
don — all towns in northwestern Iowa. Further- 



270 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

more, the Hollanders have subscribed $3000 for a 
school at Pella, where the idea was abandoned forty- 
five years ago.^^^ 

The morning religious exercises in these schools 
consist of prayer and a study of the Bible by each 
of the eight grades. In the primary grades the Bible 
story is especially emphasized, while the upper 
grades finish a complete course of Bible study in 
three years. The pupils also receive instruction in 
biblical geography and are taught Bible truths in 
connection with all their lessons throughout the day. 
Eeports of these private schools, like the reports of 
the public schools, are sent to the State Superintend- 
ent every year. Graduates are admitted without en- 
trance examination to high schools and to the North- 
western Classical Academy at Orange City, an in- 
stitution of the Dutch Reformed Church. Members 
of the Christian Reformed Church have, indeed, been 
agitating the matter of establishing an academy of 
their own, and are already weighing the claims of 
Sioux Center, Rock Valley, Sheldon, and Hull. To 
obviate the necessity of erecting another academy in 
Sioux County, a "Union Northwestern Classical 
Academy" has been suggested to accommodate the 
young people of both church congregations."^* 



XXXIII 

PUBLIC AND HIGH SCHOOLS 

As a rule the children of Dutch immigrants until fif- 
teen or twenty years ago obtained little more than 
the essentials of reading, writing, and arithmetic. 
The Hollanders of Lake Prairie Township showed 
comparatively little interest in common school edu- 
cation. Their rural schools numbered only eight in 
the years 1861 and 1865 ; while Knoxville Township, 
inhabited by Americans, had sixteen. Two hundred 
more children attended the district schools of Knox- 
ville Township, and the Americans also had a much 
larger average number of pupils in attendance. 
What was true of the two townships applied with 
equal force to the towns of Pella and Knoxville. 
Such statistics are all the more uncomplimentary to 
the Hollanders, because the population of their town 
and township, and especially the number of their 
children, was considerably larger than that of the 
township dominated by their American neighbors."" 
Little more can be said of the place of primary 
education among the Hollanders of Iowa since 1867 
than that the public school system of the State has 
laid the foundation for good citizenship and the ordi- 
nary occupations of life. It has furnished the mass 
of Hollanders with the elements of education and has 

271 



272 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

offered the advantages of instruction and training 
to the poorest children in country and town. 
Wliether the Dutch immigrant parents have always 
fully availed themselves of such opportunities for 
their children it is difficult to state. In Holland, 
where it has been claimed that every adult can read 
and write, people who later emigrated to Iowa have 
at least learned the rudiments. But in the struggle 
for existence and wealth in Iowa very many Hol- 
landers have lost sight of cultural pursuits. By 
force of circumstances some have weaned their chil- 
dren from school at an early age, while others have 
been easily satisfied to see their children finish the 
grammar school, or at best the high school. It is 
indeed doubtful whether one child out of twenty-six 
has continued in school beyond the eighth grade — 
a statement which does not flatter the Hollanders in 
America as a people thirsting for education. 

In agricultural communities such as Marion and 
Sioux counties where wealth has had such powerful 
attractions, where work of all kinds was so plentiful 
and hands were so few, Dutch farmers, business men 
of moderate means, and day laborers with large 
families could not afford to sacrifice time and money 
to give their children a thorough education. Seeing 
no financial profit in years spent at school or college 
(''it doesn't pay") very many preferred to see their 
children begin work early in life, help support the 
family, and learn to become self-dependent. 

And yet, although most youths in the early days 
of Pella and Sioux County acquired little more than 



PUBLIC AND HIGH SCHOOLS 273 

the rudiments of an education in their town and 
rural schools, not a few young men went on to col- 
lege. Indeed, there has never been lacking among 
the Hollanders a genuine interest in secondary edu- 
cation. So keen was their enthusiasm that Pella 
has long boasted of her college and Orange City has 
prided herself on a fine academy. High schools in 
the towns where the Dutch preponderate are of later 
date. 

The number of grammar-room pupils who went 
on into the upper grades remained so small for 
many years that no pressing need existed for the 
organization of thorough high school courses. At 
Pella advanced work was for a long time well taken 
care of by the Central University academy which not 
only children of Dutch parentage at Pella, but fre- 
quently also boys and girls from rural and graded 
schools in the vicinity, have attended. In recent 
years, also, many of the farmers in Dutch communi- 
ties living near town have sent their children to 
high schools. The Northwestern Classical Academy 
has provided instruction to many young people in 
Orange City, to those who came from farms near by, 
and to many who came from communities of Hol- 
landers in Sioux County and neighboring States. 

High school and academy graduates of Dutch ex- 
traction previous to 1900 were not numerous in pro- 
portion to the population. The number of pupils 
in the Orange City and Pella high schools was fairly 
large, but only a small percentage of them were des- 
tined to complete the course. Girls outnumbered 



274 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

boys in nearly every class of graduates — a fact 
no less true of the years since 1900. Many young 
women of Dutch parentage have thus been enabled 
to begin careers as teachers in rural schools among 
the Hollanders of Marion, Sioux, and other counties, 
and a few are to be found teaching in the grades of 
town schools. Just as in other communities, boys 
dropped out of school before their sisters because 
there was work for them at home, in the office, or in 
the shop. 

Pella high school and academy graduates have 
obtained their higher education largely in Central 
University, but a few have gone to Hope College, a 
Dutch Eeformed institution at Holland, Michigan. 
With the opportunity of securing a college education 
at home it is not surprising that young men did not 
turn to colleges elsewhere, except for graduate and 
professional courses, in which case many have at- 
tended the State University of Iowa: one of these 
was John Scholte Nollen, president of the Alumni 
Association in 1911, and head of Lake Forest Col- 
lege. 

Although the graduates of the Northwestern 
Classical Academy and of high schools of Dutch 
towns in Sioux County have always attended Hope 
College, since 1900 many graduates have chosen to 
go elsewhere. Grinnell College and the Agricultural 
College at Ames have had their attractions, but the 
current has set in especially strong toward the State 
University of Iowa. During the past decade the lat- 
ter institution has had a large representation from 



PUBLIC AND HIGH SCHOOLS 275 

the Dutch community in Sioux County, particularly 
from the towns of Orange City and Sioux Center. 
In 1912 this county, nearly three hundred miles from 
Iowa City, sent thirty-five students. Only five coun- 
ties in the State made a better showing. Orange 
City with its population of about 1500 had more stu- 
dents enrolled at the University than any other town 
of equal size : it boasted of seventeen. Des Moines 
had but twice as many; and only eight cities in all 
Iowa ranked higher. Such facts indicate not merely 
that the Hollanders of Iowa have begun to take more 
interest in education, but also that they have con- 
fidence in their university. 



XXXIV 

CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 

About four and a half years after the Hollanders 
founded their community in Marion County, on one 
of the coldest days of the season, the people of 
Pella, both Dutch and Americans, assembled in a 
house on Garden Square. All were buoyant with 
hope because an opportunity had been presented for 
securing within their midst ''that which in its moral, 
literary and religious bearing upon the community 
would be more important than county or government 
seats." 

The Baptists of Iowa having decided to establish 
a college where they could depend upon the most 
liberal donations of land and money, there ensued 
an enthusiastic campaign to collect money from the 
citizens of Pella and vicinity. Many Hollanders, 
like Scholte and A. E. D. Bousquet, deemed higher 
education an absolute necessity; and even though 
Baptists were the chief promoters of the plan, 
wealthy members of the Dutch church did not hesi- 
tate to subscribe large sums of money. Scholte 
himself offered eight acres of land for a college 
campus.-'^ 

In June, 1853, the citizens of Pella rejoiced when 
they learned that the Baptists had resolved to ac- 

276 



CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 277 

cept Pella's offer. That the Central University of 
Iowa found a home among the Hollanders was large- 
ly due to the influence of Scholte, who showed in this 
way how little he cared ' * about differences of opinion 
regarding the less important points of religious 
worship". Graduated from the renowned Univer- 
sity of Leyden and himself a man of learning, he at 
once approved the plan of providing higher educa- 
tion for the youth of his community. The Puritans 
of New England waited longer for Harvard College 
than the Hollanders of Pella did for Central Col- 
lege. Scholte cooperated with the Baptists at every 
step, gave generously of his wealth, and at all times 
had the interests of the college at heart. He dreamed 
of a university which would one day by reason of its 
central location attract many hundreds of young 
people to its departments of law, medicine, theology, 
and liberal arts.^" 

Among the first trustees of Central University 
were two Hollanders : J. Smeenk and H. P. Scholte. 
The latter was president of the board in 1855 when 
proposals were asked for a three-story brick build- 
ing with stone trimmings. For a few years before 
June, 1858, there existed only an academic or pre- 
paratory department. Many Hollanders failed to 
appreciate the benefits which this academy conferred 
upon the people of Pella. Although the institution 
had been ' ' scrupulously kept free from all sectarian 
influences", it had not received the cordial support 
of the members of all religious denominations at 
Pella. Some Hollanders were too strongly tinged 



278 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

with sectarianism to overlook the Baptist origin of 
the college, but others declared it an excellent priv- 
ilege to be able to acquire a liberal education at 
home in the midst of Christian surroundings even 
though their own theology could not be taught."^^ 

Among the first three students to graduate from 
Central University, shortly after the Civil War broke 
out, was Herman F. Bousquet, a foreign-born Hol- 
lander. When the College again opened its doors 
in the autumn of 1861, not a single able-bodied young 
man enrolled, for all had enlisted in the Iowa regi- 
ments. Enthusiastic graduates refer with pardon- 
able pride to the fact that Central University ''gave 
not only a larger proportion of her young men to the 
service than did any other school in the United 
States, but she gave all that she possessed", one 
hundred and twenty-two.'^® 

Van Raalte's hopes of being able to found at 
Pella a college of the Dutch Reformed Church as 
he had established Hope College at Holland, Michi- 
gan, miscarried in the year 1865, because the un- 
usually fine standard of both higher and lower edu- 
cation at Pella made an additional school in such a 
country town at once unnecessary and superfluous. 
Thus Central University has held the field alone 
(though not a few young Hollanders from Pella have 
attended Hope College), and like so many other small 
colleges of Iowa has passed through many trials 
during the past half century. It has always main- 
tained a high standard of instruction, has steadily 
raised its endowment, and claims about two hundred 



CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA 279 

and fifty students divided among the academy, the 
college, and the departments of music and oratory.^®'' 
Central University has never lacked warm friends 
among the Hollanders who comprised a majority of 
the people of Pella. Besides Scholte and A. E. D. 
Bousquet, Auke H. Viersen also faithfully served the 
college. In 1911 one-fourth of the college trustees 
were Hollanders ; while among the names of past 
instructors appear those of Lillian Viersen, John 
Nollen, Henry Nollen, and Herman Neyenesch. It 
can not be denied, however, that the founding of Cen- 
tral University at Pella was not sufficiently prized 
by the Hollanders for many years. While young 
people of Dutch parentage have always enrolled at 
the college, the number in attendance until about 
twenty years ago was almost negligible. But in the 
last two decades the Hollanders have been good pa- 
trons, and in 1911 they claimed nearly one-third of 
the students in the college, more than half in the 
summer school, not quite one-half in the academy, 
two-thirds in the elocution department, and more 
than one-third of the students in the school of music. 
This is an admirable showing and indicates that as 
wealth increases among the Hollanders of Pella and 
vicinity more young people will acquire the culture 
of college halls. ^®^ 



XXXV 

NORTHWESTERN CLASSICAL ACADEMY 

Of the first two buildings around whicli the town of 
Orange City grew up, one was the Uttle district 
schoolhouse. Within five years there were seven- 
teen rural schools scattered throughout the new set- 
tlement in Sioux County. But it is especially worthy 
of note that prominent among the ideals of the Hol- 
landers was the encouragement of higher education. 
Henry Hospers and other shareholders in the town 
site had from the beginning agreed to lay aside one- 
fifth of the proceeds from the sale of lots as a col- 
lege fund. To set the academy or university upon 
its feet there were in 1875 advocates of a plan to 
buy a section of land, let the soil to tenants for cul- 
tivation, and apply the income to the payment of 
instructors. But other counsellors prevailed, sug- 
gesting that the plan be dropped until the country 
became entirely rid of the grasshopper plague. 

Dr. A. F. H. de Lespinasse, a graduate of Utrecht 
University, announced that he would open a medical 
school to young men of at least nineteen years of age, 
for a course of one and a half years devoted to pre- 
paratory knowledge, theory, and practice. This 
school was ambitiously proposed as a part of a uni- 
versity which should later include faculties of law 

280 



NORTHWESTERN CLASSICAL ACADEMY 281 

and theology. Orange City was suggested as the 
proper home for such an institution on account of its 
Dutch population, its healthful situation, and the 
cheapness of living. Seven young men presented 
themselves as students in the month of February, 
1875, and they were told that studies would begin as 
soon as the new county courthouse was completed. 
In September and October of that year they were 
worrying over examinations. The school, however, 
was short-lived.^®^ 

Summoned from the Hollanders in Michigan to 
serve the infant church congregations in Sioux 
County, Eev. Seine Bolks was familiar with the 
pioneer educational accomplishments of van Raalte 
in Michigan. Indeed, he had helped other ministers 
to bring order out of chaos by establishing the first 
schools in that forest wilderness. He had been a 
witness of the founding, by van Raalte, of Holland 
Academy in 1857 and of Hope College in 1866. With 
these thriving institutions in mind he perceived that 
Orange City, too, had room for an institution of 
higher learning. For many years he counselled and 
encouraged the members of his flock to make some 
provision : his hopes, however, were blasted by years 
of distress and adversity. ''Grasshoppers", he 
naively remarked, *'flew away with the idea." ^^^ 

In the autumn of 1882, twelve years after the 
Hollanders came to Sioux County, and after the 
settlers had recovered from the suffering caused by 
the locusts, such lively interest was manifested that 
many Dutch Reformed ministers and a few busi- 



282 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ness men met at Orange City and decided to found 
a church school, to be known as the Northwestern 
Classical Academy. They believed that in the ab- 
sence of high schools at both Orange City and Al- 
ton such an institution was destined to supply a 
great need, if a site for the building were selected 
at some point midway between the two towns. But 
when Henry Hospers came forward to donate several 
acres of land upon the southern outskirts of Orange 
City, the county seat was selected as the permanent 
home for the proposed academy.^^* 

Plans were at once formulated, money was sub- 
scribed by all who were well disposed, and a board 
of trustees was appointed. In the autumn of 1883 
the principal of the Orange City public school, aided 
by the ministers of neighboring churches, began to 
prepare pupils for admission to the academy ; and in 
January, 1884, Eev. John A. de Spelder took up his 
duties as principal. From modest beginnings — one 
teacher, twenty-five pupils, and scant accommoda- 
tions in one room of a small, square frame building 
which the Hollanders called ' ' The Pioneer School " — 
the academy grew until it occupied two rooms and re- 
quired two teachers before the end of the first year. 
Then followed such an increasing enrollment that an 
abandoned skating-rink was purchased and fitted up 
for recitation and dormitory purposes in 1886, and 
later the first building was remodeled and converted 
into a residence for the principal. 

In 1890 Rev. James F. Zwemer was installed as 
principal. Legacies and subscriptions were received. 



NORTHWESTERN CLASSICAL ACADEMY 283 

mortgages liquidated, and in 1894 an attractive 
three-story brick and stone structure was com- 
pleted upon the campus at a cost of $25,000. Rev. 
Matthew Kolyn succeeded as principal in 1898, Mr. 
Philip Soulen in 1901, Rev. John F. Heemstra in 
1906, and Mr. Thomas E. Welmers in 1910. During 
their administrations the academy has been nursed 
through many financial troubles ; but in 1911 it stood 
upon a solid footing, free from debt. Since its foun- 
dation it has been served by nearly forty teachers — 
all Hollanders, members of the Dutch Reformed 
Church, and mostly graduates of Hope College. 

The Northwestern Classical Academy was not 
intended as a mere high school. The chief aim of its 
founders was to lay a thorough foundation for a 
liberal education and to fit young men for entrance 
into college, especially Hope College, also an insti- 
tution of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1911 the 
academy furnished sound instruction in three 
courses: the classical, the modern classical, and 
the normal, which has recently been added to 
prepare young people for teaching, especially in 
rural schools. Greek and Latin, mathematics and 
science, history and English, vocal music, German, 
and Dutch are the subjects taught. The retention 
of Dutch as a part of the curriculum was explained 
as follows : 

The study of the Dutch language is a characteristic 
feature of this institution. And it is altogether fitting tliat 
it should be so, considering that many of our students come 



284 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

from Dutch homes, that the language \vill doubtless yet 
long be used in a section of the church which this institu- 
tion is especially designed to serve, and that no one, who 
counts the Dutch his mother tongue, should, while seeking 
the advantages of a higher education, fail to have or seek 
an interest in the extensive and rich literature of this peo- 
ple. . , . The work is made optional; one semester is 
devoted to it, during which the principal points of grammar 
and syntax are carefully studied in connection with selec- 
tions from standard authors. 

The founders of the academy desired not merely 
to serve the immediate neighborhood of the school 
in Sioux County: they had in mind all localities to 
which the Dutch Eeformed Church was spreading, 
and although most of the pupils have come from 
Orange City, Alton, Sioux Center, Maurice, Hospers, 
Eock Valley, and Boyden in Sioux County, not a few 
have come from Dutch Reformed congregations else- 
where, as in Kansas, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and 
other States. 

The need of higher education on a Christian basis 
in harmony with the tenets of Calvinism was an im- 
portant factor in the organization of this academy, 
and so the curriculum has always included Bible 
study. The reason has been stated as follows : 

The systematic study of the Bible finds a place in our 
curriculum. We believe it to be essential. We hold that 
God is the fountain of all knowledge and that the principles 
of revealed truth are basic to all true intellectual develop- 
ment and every branch of learning. 

During the first three years one hour a week throughout 
the year is devoted to this study. Taking for granted that 



NORTHWESTERN CLASSICAL ACADEMY 285 

the student is tolerably familiar with Sacred History, we 
aim rather to point out the system of truth embodied in this 
history and trace the great principles which are to be found 
in God's Revelation from cover to cover. The Reformed 
Church is distinctly a truth confessing church. 

The Heidelberg Catechism is used as a guide during the 
first two years, while Sell's Notes form a course for the 
third year. 

In the absence of a more substantial foundation, 
such as a large endowment fund, the academy has 
been dependent upon the annual contributions of its 
friends and upon assistance from the Board of Edu- 
cation of the Eeformed Church. Although it is a 
sectarian or denominational institution, founded, 
superintended, and maintained by members of the 
Dutch Reformed Church in America, those who seek 
admission need only possess "good moral character 
and studious inclinations", and many a poor boy or 
girl desirous of an education has been aided by the 
academy's Board of Benevolence and the Women's 
Executive Committee. All pupils are required to 
attend morning chapel services and recitations, and 
are expected to be in faithful attendance at some 
place of public worship. "Dancing, card-playing, 
and the use of tobacco on the campus is forbidden. ' ' 

The board of trustees has always been composed 
largely of ministers of Dutch Reformed congrega- 
tions in the neighborhood. These gentlemen have 
been no small factor in developing the school, and to 
no small degree have they been responsible for a 
record in which hundreds of Hollanders in Sioux 



286 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

County and elsewhere have taken unconcealed pride. 
While the number of students has never been large, 
ranging from sixty to seventy-five, under the tute- 
lage of four or five teachers, the academy has main- 
tained itself in the face of many competing high 
schools. 

Graduates of the academy in their loyalty and 
enthusiasm point to the past record of the school as 
a heritage which speaks volumes when mere words 
fail. Since the first class of three left " N. W. C. A. " 
in 1885, the graduates have come to number about 
two hundred and sixty. Nearly three-fourths of 
these have pursued a college course in whole or in 
part. They have yielded seventeen physicians, ten 
lawyers, more than sixty teachers, and almost 
seventy clergymen and missionaries, most of whom 
received their training at Hope College and Western 
Theological Seminary at Holland, Michigan. And 
the names of these young men and women graduates 
indicate that all, with perhaps two or three excep- 
tions, were Hollanders. ^^^ 



XXXVI 

EARLY RELIGIOUS LIFE AMONG THE HOL- 
LANDERS IN IOWA 

The dictum of William of Orange that "conscience 
is God's province" was entirely ignored in 1815 when 
Holland, as well as the rest of Europe, under- 
went almost complete reconstruction. Napoleon had 
preached the separation of church and state, and 
when he took possession of Holland he sent the Dutch 
Church about its business. Then Holland fell into 
the hands of William I who easily prevailed upon the 
declining Reformed Church to return to dependence 
upon the state exchequer at the price of a modified 
constitution. King William resolved to make all 
members of the established church conform to his 
ideas of the new church polity, but after some years 
of persecution he conferred upon conservative 
churchmen, who adhered to the orthodox doctrines 
of Calvinism, the privilege of maintaining their own 
congregations. These Seceders were so generally 
despised by the masses of the people of Holland and 
hundreds came to such a state of poverty that many 
were led by their pastors to forsake the fatherland 
and seek full liberty of conscience and freedom of 
worship in the solitudes of Michigan and Iowa. 
The spirit exliibited by these people in twelve 

287 



288 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

years of religious strife in Holland was transplanted 
to the prairie farms of Marion County, Iowa. Eight 
months after landing in America, Scholte, their pas- 
tor-leader, pictured the spiritual state of his fellow- 
countrymen at Pella as follows : ^^^ 

Ever since our coming regular Sunday services have 
been held, first partly in the open air on account of the lack 
of sufficiently roomy houses. Later when 0. H. Overkamp 
finished his house in the city, he kindly allowed it to be 
used for Sunday meetings, which were generally very well 
attended. . . . Besides, the people gather during the 
week to practice reading and interpreting the Holy Scrip- 
tures. The building which is to serve as a school-room and 
also as a house of worship is fifty feet long and half as 
broad, and will be finished soon. . . . 

One may converse with many on religious subjects; 
and although our people were adherents of diiferent sects 
in Holland, they are all Christians and thus far form but 
one congregation. The preaching of the Word is listened 
to attentively, and although a difference of opinion exists 
it is not productive of strife ; sometimes differences are de- 
bated but without resulting in hostility or bitterness. 

The immigrants at once organized a congrega- 
tion with five elders and three deacons, became in- 
corporated under the laws of Iowa as an independent 
religious society by the name of "The Christian 
Church at Pella", adopted a constitution on the 
13th of November, 1848, and declared that their 
church was "founded upon the one, entire and in- 
divisible Word of God as revealed in the Scripture 
of the Old and New Testaments." In conformity 
with the Bible they recognized the doctrines and con- 



EARLY RELIGIOUS LIFE OF HOLLANDERS 289 

fession of faith of the orthodox Protestant churches 
as the true standard of belief, and were prepared to 
join in Christian fellowship with every congregation 
which confessed the same faith in God the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They also provided 
that every person who confessed his belief in the 
Trinity and whose conduct was consistent with his 
belief would be received into the church. Accord- 
ingly, candidates for membership in the church were 
required to be rich in Christian knowledge: many 
were denied admission because they lacked the neces- 
sary experience in Christian life.-" 

To the superficial observer it seemed as if re- 
ligious life flourished at Pella in the early months, 
but in writing of all that God had done for them, 
Scholte concluded: "If we are asked what we are 
doing for God, shame and humiliation surge within 
us; for though we ought to shine as lights in the 
world, if we were to go to meet God, some of us 
would surely have to say that our lamps are going 
out. ' ' Scholte was compelled to admit that as to the 
spiritual condition of his people he had no special 
boast to make: "To be frank in what I write, I 
must confess that religion does not flourish, because 
there is no evidence that God's Kingdom and right- 
eousness assume a foremost place in daily life, but 
rather the things of this world." Some were so af- 
fected with self-interest and self-seeking and so al- 
tered by the incidents of the long journey from Hol- 
land and the strenuous life of the new country that 
Scholte believed their Christian ideals were shat- 



290 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

tered : surely not many glorified God.^*^^ ' * The sud- 
den change", he wrote, "from a condition of op- 
pression and anxiety in Holland to one of space and 
freedom has caused a dizziness, and therefore the 
American love of material things is more attractive 
than Heaven." 

Scholte longed heartily for a revival such as 
Americans were accustomed to, though his own peo- 
ple had never heard of evangelistic methods in Hol- 
land. Many times he had been pained by the ir- 
religious conduct of the rising generation. Not many 
months later, in November of 1848, he rejoiced to re- 
port a tremendous reformation. Suddenly inspired 
by the Christ-like example of a poor and ignorant 
servant girl, scores of young people as well as adults 
were turned from the path of evil. This experience 
resulted in a spiritual awakening in the hearts of all 
members of the congregation, and Scholte asserted : 
' ' Now Pella has become doubly dear to me, because 
the Lord has shown that he wishes to dwell in our 
midst, and I must not conceal from my former fel- 
low-countrymen the great things that God has done 
and is doing for us. ' ' ^^^ 

During the early years Scholte preached on Sun- 
day afternoons, while Rev. A. J. Betten or the el- 
ders took charge of morning services. Children of 
the congregation were not allowed to miss instruc- 
tion in the Heidelberg catechism: they were faith- 
fully taught by Isaac Overkamp for many years. A 
fresh infusion of religious life came when Pella wel- 
comed the immigrants of 1849, of whom such men as 



EARLY RELIGIOUS LIFE OF HOLLANDERS 291 

H. van Houten, John Hospers, A. E. D. Bousquet, 
Jacob Maasdam, and A. C. Kuyper became leaders in 
the church. The first regular Sunday-school at Pel- 
la, established and superintended by A. E. D. Bous- 
quet, was held for many years in an old log house on 
Garden Square.-^" 

In 1851 the Christian Church split into two con- 
gregations, which, however, reunited later. About 
the same time occurred the fatal breach between the 
pastor and a large part of his flock. When Scholte 
laid out the town of Pella in 1848 he made a map 
which showed that he intended Garden Square to be 
used as a public garden around which he expected 
citizens to purchase lots for homes, and that he re- 
served one-fourth of a block west of Garden Square 
for future church and school purposes. Scholte 's 
intentions as thus indicated caused places of business 
to become scattered about town until Americans be- 
gan to arrive in Pella. With true Yankee foresight 
they bought lots facing Garden Square and set up 
their shops. Scholte, "who was easily won over to 
the side of what was genuinely American, quickly 
noticed that what he had set aside to be a place for 
quiet and rest was becoming the center of business 
and industry, and therefore not a desirable neigh- 
borhood for God's house." When in the summer of 
1854 he received a tempting offer for a part of 
Church Square, he did not hesitate to accept it.-^^ 

Scholte 's church council or consistory resented 
his independence, declared that he had no right to 
act so arbitrarily without consulting them, and con- 



292 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

tended that by designating a parcel of land as 
Church Square he had granted and dedicated it to 
the Christian Church. Scholte replied that these 
lots had not become church property because he had 
never made a deed of gift, that in his judgment the 
lots facing Garden Square had become more suitable 
for stores than for a church, and accordingly he pro- 
posed to donate to the church another site in a quiet 
part of town. Upon his refusal to restore the land, 
Scholte was suspended and forbidden to preach until 
he surrendered. Indeed, the Christian Church at 
Pella brought the matter into court and even ap- 
pealed to the State Supreme Court, but Scholte 's 
view prevailed."^ 

Despite this friction, members of the congrega- 
tion were not unanimous in their opposition to 
Scholte. Many followed him out of the church and 
for a time heard him preach in a barn and later in a 
painter's shop. Then Scholte built for himself and 
his people a meeting-house with low, sharp-pointed 
steeple, and above its entrance inscribed these 
words in large black letters : ' ' MDCCCLV. In Deo 
Spes Nostra et Refugium." The Second Christian 
Church congregation flourished independently until 
about one year after the death of Scholte in 1868. 
He usually preached on Sunday afternoons, while 
capable men took charge in the morning. For some 
years there were no elders and deacons, but the men 
of the church transacted church business at weekly 
meetings. Men were specially appointed to teach 
the children the catechism. But the fact that 



EARLY RELIGIOUS LIP^E OF HOLLANDERS 293 

Scholte's influence at Pella was severely shaken by 
the fatal breach is apparent from the following : ^'^ 

Being the only one among the colonists who was famil- 
iar with the language, laws and customs, he had to enter 
into all the material concerns of the colony. Thus he was 
gentleman farmer, owner of saw-mills, brick-kilns and lime- 
kilns, land-agent, notary, printer, broker, banker, dealer in 
farm implements, attorney, editor, owner and publisher of 
a weekly, and so on. This combination of manifold duties 
led to his loss of spiritual power. No less hurtful was his 
active share in politics which brought him into clashes with 
a numerous class of men who make politics their business. 



XXXVII 

THE DUTCH REFOEMED CHURCH IN IOWA 

On his way to the American West in 1847 Scliolte 
met many clergymen of the old American Dutch Re- 
formed Church at New York. In answer to their 
urgent appeals to ally himself with their synod he 
said that he had no inclination to do so. It was his 
impatience with human regulations in church life, his 
spirit of independence which compelled him to turn 
a deaf ear to their proposals. In fact, he could not 
be said to belong to any sect. "Boldly and cheer- 
fully", as he expressed it, "do I profess that God's 
Word is my only regulation in the affairs of God's 
church on earth. ' ' 

Between him and his fellow-Separatists in Hol- 
land there had once arisen a difference of opinion as 
to the application of the church regulations pre- 
scribed by the Synod of Dordrecht, the administra- 
tion of sacraments to the unconverted, the baptism 
of children, the return of Christ, and other subjects, 
which led to so much friction that at a general synod 
of the Separatist congregations in 1840 Scholte was 
forbidden to preach the gospel. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that he did not hurry to the fold of the 
Dutch Reformed Church or any other church in 
America, though van Raalte and his Michigan people 
were welcomed as early as 1850."* 

294 



DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 295 

The First Christian Church at Pella emerged 
from the quarrel with Scholte and for a short time its 
members worshipped God without a pastor, until 
they elected one of their number, Rev. A. J. Betten, 
to fill the vacancy in 1855. The congregation had 
always observed the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
every Sunday. This was an innovation which cer- 
tain brethren felt was not in keeping with the doc- 
trines promulgated by the Synod of Dordrecht in 
1618, and accordingly, as their number grew with in- 
creasing accessions of Hollanders from Europe, they 
formed a separate independent congregation in 1856 
and called it the Dutch Reformed Church. 

They voted unanimously to effect a closer rela- 
tion with the Michigan churches, and appointed two 
men to attend a special convention at Chicago. In 
September, 1856, they secured a visit from Rev. van 
Raalte. At an open meeting of the members of the 
Christian Church and of the Dutch Reformed Church 
practically all of the members voted to be received 
into the Dutch Reformed Church in America. Thus 
nearly two entire congregations of Hollanders be- 
came united under the name : ' ' Protestant Reformed 
Dutch Church at Pella". Those who refused to be 
parties to this arrangement continued as the First 
Christian Church.-" 

The Dutch Reformed congregation tendered calls 
to Rev. A. C. van Raaite, Rev. A. Brummelkamp 
(then a professor in the theological school at Kam- 
pen, Holland), and Rev. Donner of Leyden, Holland, 
but all declined. Finally, in 1858 they induced Rev. 



296 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

P. J. Oggel of Grand Haven, Michigan, to come for a 
few weeks, and later, in 1859, Rev. van Raalte. The 
first Baptist church organized by Americans at Pel- 
la in 1854 had taken over the Sunday-school founded 
by Bousquet. Since this school was the only one at 
Pell a, and was attended by both Hollanders and 
Americans, Rev. van Raalte successfully urged the 
Dutch Reformed people to establish a second Sun- 
day-school, which Dutch children attended at eight 
o'clock in the morning! Then in 1860 Rev. P. J. 
Oggel became the first permanent pastor of the 
Dutch Reformed Church."^ 

At Pella, just as in Michigan, there arose what 
has been termed ''the terrible language question", 
once so productive of disputes in congregations of 
the eastern American States, For many of the first 
settlers, who had found no time or opportunity to 
acquaint themselves with English, preaching in the 
Dutch language remained an absolute necessity ; and 
so it has always been in the case of Dutch immi- 
grants who have come to Iowa. The children who 
had grown up at Pella since 1847 had received in- 
struction in English, but had acquired only a slight 
speaking knowledge of Dutch: they were not pre- 
pared to read Dutch books or to follow Dutch ser- 
mons with profit. Accordingly, there was little op- 
position in 1862 to the formation at Pella of a second 
Dutch Reformed congregation which has always had 
preaching in the English language.^" 

The first Dutch Reformed Church in Iowa existed 
in the city of Burlington from 1853 until 1860. Dav- 



DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 297 

enport also had a congregation from 1859 to 1876, 
and there was one at Keokuk from 1863 to 1865. Hol- 
landers were numerous enough in the district north 
of Pella to build a house of worship near the Skunk 
Eiver: Bethel Church, which has been maintained 
since 1866. A third Dutch Keformed church was 
built at Pella in 1868 and the congregation secured 
Rev. van der Veen from Holland as its pastor. 
Scholte's congregation of the Christian Church dis- 
solved in 1869 and became the foundation for the 
fourth Dutch Reformed Church, the members of 
which sold their parsonage and church property at 
auction in September, 1909, and in January, 1910. 
In the month of November, 1869, a series of meetings 
was held at Pella and the outcome was the organiza- 
tion of a Dutch Presbyterian Church, which held to- 
gether until 1882. In 1872 a society of Derbyites or 
''Brethren" was formed and has existed with a small 
membership including a few Dutch families."^ 

As fast as the Hollanders bought up farms at 
long distances from Pella, they organized them- 
selves into church congregations. Thus numbers 
warranted the founding of churches at Otley in 1871, 
at Bethany near Sully in 1886, at Leighton, Mahaska 
County, in 1889, at Galesburg near Reasnor, Jasper 
County, and at Muscatine in 1891, and at Bethlehem 
near Taintor, Mahaska County, in 1894. Since 1902 
congregations have been formed also at Killduff in 
Jasper County, at Sully in Marion County, and at 
Eddyville in Wapello County. In 1910 these churches 
of the Pella Classis served about eight hundred fam- 



298 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

ilies, and claimed an enrollment of one thousand 
three hundred and ninety Sunday-school pupils and 
eight hundred and twenty-seven catechumens. Six 
of the thirteen pastorates were vacant — a fact from 
which one might infer that the Classis was not flour- 
ishing, were it not for the additional fact that the 
churches contributed liberally to benevolent and con- 
gregational enterprises. ^^^ 

The Dutch Reformed Church spread with greater 
rapidity among the Hollanders of northwestern Iowa 
than it did in the vicinity of Pella. The early set- 
tlers first met in the various homes, then in 1871 they 
organized a congregation. For a time they were 
served by preachers who came from Pella every two 
weeks, but finally they unanimously called and ob- 
tained as their pastor Rev. Seine Bolks who arrived 
from Zeeland, Michigan, in the spring of 1872. Dur- 
ing the next eight years he filled the role of minister, 
doctor, and counsellor, while his people struggled 
against locust depredations. This "old patriarch" 
or 'Wader", as he was styled by the settlers, had 
wrestled with the hardships of backwoods life in 
Michigan ; for in 1848 he and a large body of immi- 
grants had left Holland and founded Overisel, Mich- 
igan. He was, therefore, equal to the demands of 
the first years in Sioux County, and hundreds of 
Hollanders would have forsaken their farms had not 
his simple faith buoyed them up.-^" 

For many years Rev. Bolks was the only man who 
ministered to the widely-scattered Hollanders. At 
Orange City he preached in the schoolhouse until a 



DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 299 

separate church building was finished in 1873. Late 
in November of this year a famous visitor from Hol- 
land, in a book of travels in America, described the 
events of a Sunday which he spent at Orange City. 
Translated from the Dutch his account reads as fol- 
lows : 

'Twas Sunday, and a Sunday which I shall not soon 
forget. What a quiet, almost holy Sabbath rest brooded 
over that scene ! . . . Such space, and such stillness, 
seriousness, and peace ! How well does the fresh, youthful, 
simple life of the little colony harmonize with that quiet, 
pure, virgin nature ! About us the little settlers' town with 
its widely-scattered wooden houses, and beyond, here and 
there, at a great distance, a little blue cloud of smoke rising 
from the green field of this or that farm hidden in the folds 
of the undulating prairie. 

But see, gradually there comes a stir! Miles away we 
see them approaching from all directions, churchgoers of 
this morning : here a light buggy or an open wagon, yonder 
a slow-moving ox cart, or a horseman, also a single amazon, 
a stout, young farmer's daughter who comes galloping over 
the fields, a delightful sight to see. But whether they come 
fast or slow, they arrive in time : those who must travel long 
distances are seldom late. 

We too betook ourselves to the large ''public square", 
as the place is proudly called, on which the settlers already 
imagine they see noble buildings but which is now nothing 
more than a sketch, an open plot of land surrounded by 
a few small dwellings and four rows of trees which can 
stand in our shadows. But for the moment we see a big stir 
there. Horses and oxen, unhitched, are tied to posts or al- 
lowed to graze, and little groups of men and women form 
here and there in front of blacksmith shop and church. 



300 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Of that church entertain no lofty expectation ! It is 
indeed the most unsightly structure in which I have ever 
preached. Imagine a small rectangular building of boards, 
perhaps ten metres long and five metres wide, with a stove 
in the center and benches around it. That is the school. — 
Perpendicular to this school-room at one end, like the upper 
part of the capital letter T, there is a shed with a few 
rough, unplaned boards on supports to serve as pews, and 
against the back wall opposite the entrance stand a chair 
and a table for the minister. This shed and the school-room 
turned into one form the church. During the week on 
school-days, the partition between the two rooms is closed, 
but on Sunday for church services boards are removed from 
the upper part and the church is then ready to receive an 
audience. 

To be sure this is something quite different from a state- 
ly gothic cathedral or the beautiful marble church edifices 
of New York, but it appeals no less to the emotions; yes, 
I even dare assert, it is no less picturesque to the eye. It 
reminds me of Schwartz's picture of the bam where the 
Pilgrim Fathers in America first worshipped God. Would 
that my friend Bosboom, who understands so well the 
charm of light and Thrown and knows how to put feeling 
and even poetry into a stable or a view, would that he were 
here for a short quarter of an hour to catch the ray of light 
which the pale winter 's sun causes to play through the little 
open side-window against the dark wainscot and upon so 
many quiet and pious upturned faces; or would that 
Rochussen could reproduce that audience with a few of his 
ingenious, characteristic figures : men with quiet power and 
strength written in their bearing and upon their faces, and 
women, some of whom were nursing children, with hands 
clasped in prayer which was none the less real although 



DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 301 

they embraced what to them was most precious on earth. 
I have seldom if ever been more inspired by an audience 
than by the one in the midst of which I was permitted to 
stand that morning, and if I returned any of the inspiration 
which those hearers unconsciously gave to me, that Sunday 
morning on the prairies was not entirely lost for eternity. 

Rev. Bolks visited the Dutch settlers in various 
parts of the colony, holding fortnightly mid-week 
services in district schoolhouses. His activity and 
sincerity of purpose were long remembered. ''No 
matter how cold or stormy it might be," one writer 
asserts, "or how rough or muddy the roads, or how 
deep the water in the sloughs, he was always at his 
post ; his prompt presence and his earnest efforts for 
the spiritual welfare of the people could always be 
depended on. His words of wise council, of kind ad- 
monition, and of encouragement and good cheer in 
the days of severe struggles and affliction are ever 
remembered with gratitude and sincere regard. ' ' 

When congregations arose in 1877 at West 
Branch (now Sioux Center) and East Orange (now 
Alton), Rev. Bolks served them whenever he could. 
An old settler afterwards wrote, with a touch of 
exaggeration : 

And how he preached — without notes and without 
time — hammering the Bible until the leaves flew out over 
the audience — thundering away until the sun went down. 
But all gave rapt attention and no one ever attempted to 
leave. To my youthful mind it was mostly a jargon of 
words in which hell and sin and eternal fire stood out 
prominent. He was not a leader like van Raalte nor a 



302 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

scholar like Scholte of the parent colony but the old Dominie 
did what he could and will be remembered kindly by a 
generation of men now fast disappearing.^^^ 

After 1877 as the Hollanders increased in num- 
bers and spread out over the adjoining townships, 
churches sprang up at North Orange (now Newkirk) 
in 1883, at Maurice in 1884, at Middelburg and Hull 
in 1885, at Hospers in 1886, at Boyden in 1888, at Le 
Mars, Plymouth County, in 1889, at Eock Valley in 
1891, at Sheldon, O'Brien County, in 1895, at Car- 
mel in 1896, at Archer, 'Brien County, in 1900, and 
at Doon, Lyon County, since 1902. 

The language question made its appearance at 
Orange City in 1885. Owing to the need of services 
in the English language for the benefit of the 
younger generation, a second congregation was or- 
ganized and styled the American Reformed Church. 
A similar need also existed at Sioux Center and 
when a second congregation of the Reformed Church 
had been organized in 1899 and services had been 
commenced, a large number of the members appealed 
in vain to the district judge for an injunction to pro- 
hibit preaching in the Dutch language because they 
had subscribed money for the new church building 
according to the terms of a contract which, they 
claimed, stipulated English as the language to be 
spoken in the pulpit. At Maurice an American Re- 
formed Church was planted after 1902, and another 
was founded at Sioux Center in 1911. 

These churches, mostly in the Iowa Classis in 
northwestern Iowa, were in 1910 the houses of 



DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 303 

worship of about 1400 Dutch families, and claimed 
in round numbers 3000 communion members, 4500 
baptized non-communicants, 2000 catechumens, and 
3000 enrolled in Sunday-schools, while their members 
contributed generously to various denominational 
and congregational purposes.^*" 

Ministers of Dutch Reformed congregations in 
the neighborhood of Pella and in northwestern Iowa 
have received their training almost exclusively at the 
Western Theological Seminary at Holland, Michigan. 
Some of the older ministers, however, took their 
courses at New Brunswick Seminary in New Jersey. 
Most of the pastors of the Reformed Church in the 
Middle West have obtained their preparatory educa- 
tion in the Northwestern Classical Academy at 
Orange City, Iowa, or in Holland Academy at Hol- 
land, Michigan. 

These academies have always been the chief 
feeders of Hope College at Holland, Michigan; and 
Hope College in turn has been the chief feeder of the 
Western Theological Seminary. New Brunswick 
Seminary has depended upon Rutgers College and 
Union College for its students, and has prepared its 
graduates chiefly for service in eastern congrega- 
tions of the Reformed Church where English has 
been preached for about one hundred and fifty years. 
During its existence for nearly forty years the Wes- 
tern Theological Seminary has had as its motto: 
''Train Western men, for Western work, on Western 
soil", and ministers are therefore trained to preach 
in the Dutch language. -^^ 



304 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Most of the Hollanders of Iowa in 1910 formed 
part of a cliurcli polity which consisted of 689 con- 
gregations, 750 ministers, 65,675 families, and 
117,288 members. Over four hundred of these con- 
gregations were situated in the States of New York 
and New Jersey. Michigan ranked next with 62 and 
Iowa fourth with 50 churches.-^* 



XXXVIII 

THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH IN 

IOWA 

In the month of August, 1866, forty-two members of 
the First Dutch Reformed congregation of Pella 
withdrew from the fold, declaring that they would 
return to the doctrine, discipline, and liturgy or- 
dained by the Reformed Church of their fathers in 
The Netherlands. They joined what was then called 
the True Reformed Dutch Church. This denomina- 
tion had been organized by five New Jersey minis- 
ters who found the Dutch Reformed Church too 
mildly Calvinistic in its theology. Several congre- 
gations of Christian immigrants in Michigan seceded 
from the Dutch Reformed Church in the autumn of 
1856 and later called themselves the Christian Re- 
formed Church.^^^ 

These seceders put forth as their bill of griev- 
ances against the Dutch Reformed Church the fol- 
lowing counts : first, the forms of unity such as the 
Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism 
were merely professed, not practiced ; secondly, here- 
tic ministers were not prevented from disseminating 
their opinions; thirdly, bad practices were allowed, 
such as choir singing, bringing corpses into the 
church, and funeral sermons ; fourthly, hundreds of 

305 



306 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

English hymns were used in addition to the Psahns ; 
fifthly, the publication of Sunday-school literature 
was allowed jointly with other denominations, and 
members of other denominations were admitted to 
the Lord's Supper.^^'' 

After the organization of the first congregation 
in 1866, a second one was formed at Pella in 1869, 
and others have been planted at various places with- 
in a radius of about twenty miles from Pella: in 
1893 at Leighton and in 1894 at Taintor, small towns 
of Mahaska County, at Sully in 1896, at Otley in 
1898, at Reasnor in Jasper County in 1898, at Har- 
vey in 1902, at Oskaloosa in 1903, and at Prairie 
City in Jasper County in 1904. The Church's 
growth in that region indicates how the Hollanders 
are spreading in three counties around Pella. In 
1911 about four hundred and fifty families con- 
sisting of 2000 Hollanders worshipped in these 
churches.^" 

The Hollanders of northwestern Iowa brought 
their Christian Reformed Church connections at Pel- 
la with them, and organized a congregation at 
Orange City in 1874. Subsequently they established 
flourishing churches at Sioux Center and Rock Val- 
ley in 1891, at Le Mars, Plymouth County, in 1892, 
at Hull in 1893, at Hospers in 1894, at Middelburg 
in 1901, at Doon, Lyon County, in 1902, at Lebanon 
in 1903, at Carnes in 1904, at Sheldon, O'Brien 
County, in 1906, and at Ireton in 1908. Over eight 
hundred families or approximately 3000 Hollanders 
attended these churches in 1911. There were also 



CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 307 

many Hollanders in the Classis of East Friesland 
at the towns of Ackley in Hardin County and Wells- 
burg in Grundy County, but most of the members 
of the Christian Reformed denomination in this part 
of Iowa were Germans. ^^^ 

The Christian Reformed denomination in Iowa 
had but few Sunday-schools, and few young people's 
societies or other associations in 1907, but has al- 
ways emphasized instruction in the Heidelberg 
Catechism, long deemed very important in the train- 
ing of children. Many of the ministers received 
their training in The Netherlands before they emi- 
grated to America, but the majority were graduates 
of John Calvin Junior College with its four-year 
preparatory course and three-year college course, 
and of the theological school at Grand Rapids, Michi- 
gan, the American stronghold of the church."^'* 

The Christian Reformed Church in America has 
increased its membership with remarkable rapidity 
since 1880 — a year famous in its history on account 
of the anti-Masonic movement in Michigan. A fierce 
dispute arose in certain congregations of the Dutch 
Reformed Church over the question whether mem- 
bership in secret societies was consistent with mem- 
bership in the church. The Dutch Reformed Church 
adhered to its custom never to legislate on abstract 
questions and referred the matter entirely to the de- 
cision of each church consistory concerned. Seces- 
sions from the older church commenced with re- 
newed vigor and continued for two years. 

Since then the younger church has opposed secret 



308 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

societies because : first, they boast too much of their 
charity, whereas it is simply a matter of business, 
like insurance; secondly, they exert a bad influence 
on politics and political institutions, and are "an 
empire "within an empire"; thirdly, they have a 
nomenclature which is immodest, ludicrous, incon- 
sistent with republican usage, and even blasphemous, 
and the titles of their officers "savor too much of 
child's play and are unworthy of serious men"; 
fourthly, they have ceremonies too frivolous for 
earnest Christians and too dangerous to life ; fifthly, 
they use or rather abuse the Bible in their ritual; 
sixthly, they virtually exclude Christ as the Savior, 
yet they often declare deceased members saved ; and 
seventhly, they require unwarranted and sinful 
oaths. 

The spread of the Christian Eeformed Church 
since 1880 has been phenomenal compared with that 
of the Dutch Reformed Church. From 144 con- 
gregations in 1900 the number had leaped to 189 in 
1911, ministering to about 15,000 families or 80,000 
souls in nineteen States of the Union and in the 
Dominion of Canada. In fifteen of these churches 
the English lang-uage was used exclusively; in ten 
churches of the Classis of East Friesland in Iowa 
the German language prevailed; and Dutch was 
spoken in all the others. 

There was a time when the stream of immigrant 
Hollanders turned into Dutch Reformed channels, 
but in recent years nearly all Christian Netherland- 
ers have united with the Christian Reformed Church, 



CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH IN IOWA 309 

chiefly because of an impression gained in Holland 
that the older church in such matters as retaining 
within its fold members of secret oath-bound so- 
cieties, laxity in preaching the catechism, and neg- 
lect of catechetical instruction, was not really Re- 
formed in doctrine or practice, and was too much 
given to Americanization. Hence the younger church 
has aimed to maintain Calvinistic principles and 
practices in their purity and to keep the churches 
distinctively Dutch in preaching and teaching. Ad- 
herents of the Dutch Reformed Church have ex- 
claimed against the attitude of people in The Nether- 
lands but have not been able to remove the cloud. ^®° 



XXXIX 

EELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE HOLLANDERS IN 

1910 

From the foregoing glimpse of the congregations of 
Hollanders in Iowa it will be seen that in most towns 
Dutch Reformed and Christian Reformed churches 
exist side by side. Except among the prejudiced 
and less enlightened members of the two denomina- 
tions there is no open hostility or show of enmity. 
The ministers of the two sects live on good terms. 
As a rule Hollanders are tolerant in the matters of 
belief ; and yet it must be admitted that whenever op- 
portunity offers they spend considerable time in 
pointing out each other's theological weaknesses. In- 
deed it sometimes seems that despite their faithful 
attendance at church they are more sectarian than 
religious. 

Members of the older church tend to abhor all 
that is ''separatist"; while members of the younger 
church seek too diligently for things to criticise and 
condemn : they are too ready to draw up indictments 
against the Dutch Reformed Church which has urged 
that its standards of doctrine and polity and those 
of the Christian Reformed Church are for all prac- 
tical purposes identical, and that, therefore, the two 
denominations should fight shoulder to shoulder for 

310 



RELIGIOUS LIFE IN 1910 311 

the interests of God 's Kingdom. The Christian Re- 
formed Church decries the idea and prophesies that 
union would be a calamity rather than a blessing. 

Neither sect appears willing to budge : each still 
prefers to emphasize and judge the other's faults. 
And so the chasm is gradually widening.-^^ Never- 
theless, the fact that a spirit of Christian brother- 
hood exists was never better shown than when a hur- 
ricane in 1902 destroyed the large Dutch Reformed 
church at Sioux Center: the Christian Reformed 
congregation at once allowed the unfortunate people 
the use of their building for services. 

In their religious life the Hollanders of Iowa 
have always donated liberally to benevolent causes. 
Pella sent $1500 to the fire sufferers of Chicago in 
1871; and besides a carload of necessities, such as 
clothing and flour, they contributed $2500 to the 
people of Holland, Michigan, when their city was 
laid in ashes. They gave munificently of their means 
when famine-stricken British India called for food: 
much money and numerous carloads of corn found 
their way to the hungry thousands of that land. 
Their charity was equally exemplified when the peo- 
ple of Galveston, Texas, were rendered homeless by 
flood. With open purses they welcomed a man who 
preached in their churches on behalf of an orphan 
asylum in Holland ; thousands of dollars were raised 
for the Boers ; and a similar spirit was shown by the 
ladies of various church organizations when they 
collected clothing for Boer war prisoners on the 
Bermuda Islands. (See Appendix B.) 



312 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

For local church objects the Hollanders are 
equally ready to give. For instance, at Sioux Cen- 
ter they have constructed three handsome and sub- 
stantial brick church buildings, for which they sub- 
scribed and pledged as much as $50,000. Churches 
of the Iowa Classis in northwestern Iowa in 1910 
donated over $10,000 to foreign missions and about 
$6000 to domestic missions, while the Pella Classis 
contributed over $4000 and nearly $3000 to the same 
causes. ^^^ 

The Dutch are regular in attendance at church, 
going at least once on Sunday, either in the morning 
or in the afternoon, and frequently attending both 
services. Evening services are seldom held in Dutch 
churches. Women usually occupy certain pews, 
mothers taking their smallest children with them. 
The men folks also sit together, fathers with their 
older children. Such old-fashioned practices as 
these, however, are beginning to disappear, and now 
one does not infrequently find all the members of a 
family seated in the same pew. 

Pew rents were once collected at Pella. In one 
church in 1860 pews were auctioned off for $4200 — 
a sum which nine years later had fallen to $1700. 
This arrangement was necessary in the days of small 
buildings and large crowds : people wanted to be 
assured of seats when they went to worship.^^^ But 
pew-letting was bad on principle: it was not only 
undemocratic but savored of sacrilege, as it was an 
unchristian way of raising money for the Lord's 
work. Worst of all it destroyed the spirit of volun- 



EELIGIOUS LIFE IN 1910 313 

tary giving, a spirit which is now well displayed by 
fathers who before Sunday church services distribute 
one cent pieces or nickels or dimes, according to 
their means, to members of their families. Thus 
children are taught early in life to give to the church. 

Religion pervades the atmosphere of Dutch com- 
munities. Church-going is practically the only 
unique feature in the life of people who toil hard as 
day-laborers, mechanics, men of business, and farm- 
ers. The motto which rules them is surely : ' ' Lab- 
orate et orate" (''Labor and pray"). On Sundays, 
morning and afternoon, highways in country and 
town are thronged with buggies and carriages bear- 
ing the people — singly, in couples, or in families — 
to church. With the exception of Saturdays when 
farmers come to town for marketing, town streets 
are never so lively as on a beautiful Sunday after- 
noon. 

Of course not all the Hollanders of Iowa are 
church-goers, but those who do not have church con- 
nections of some sort are comparatively few. The 
great majority of the Hollanders attend church. 
They do not wish to sacrifice the spiritual welfare 
of themselves and their children — a fact attested 
by their numerous commodious church edifices in 
both Marion and Sioux counties. In practically all 
Dutch Reformed churches and in a few Christian 
Reformed churches Sunday-schools are held im- 
mediately after preaching services from three to 
four o'clock. Just as the church service consists of 
scripture lessons, long prayers, the dolorous singing 



314 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

of Psalms, and orthodox sermons, all in the Dutch 
language, so the Sunday-schools are usually con- 
ducted by means of lessons printed in the Dutch lan- 
guage. Instead of Psalms, however, American 
hymn-books are coming to be used in the Sunday- 
schools. Once a week as a rule the pastors of the 
churches catechise the children. Annual Sunday 
school picnics and distributions of presents at 
Christmas time are red-letter days for the children. 

In religious matters Hollanders differ from 
Americans in certain noteworthy respects. They 
firmly believe in infant baptism; they cling to the 
catechism; they seldom if ever have exhibitions or 
concerts to raise money, for they are not fussy 
when it comes to giving; and they have no choirs. 
Furthermore, they do not lock church doors for the 
hot season: fifty-two Sundays in the year, besides 
Thanksgiving and Christmas days, pastor and con- 
gregation meet together. They take no demoraliz- 
ing vacations. In recent years they have been hold- 
ing ''mission feasts", and they have contributed 
large sums of money annually and not a few men 
and women to missions. Many now celebrate the 
Fourth of July in a Christian way. But they do 
not countenance dancing or card playing, and are 
seldom visited by theatrical companies. 

English is the language preached in only four 
out of fifty congregations of the Dutch Reformed 
Church in Iowa, while the Dutch lang-uage has been 
preserved in all the other congregations and es- 
pecially in the Christian Reformed Church. (See 



RELIGIOUS LIFE IN 1910 315 

Appendix C.) Nothing more typical can be sug- 
gested to show the Hollander's extreme dislike of 
innovation. It is said that English preaching was 
introduced into New York City in 1763 not without 
"a lawsuit, besides sad losses of temper, money, and 
membership ' '. Of this remarkable display of Dutch 
tenaciousness one historian has written: 

It was difficult then, however, as it is for some of the 
old Dutchmen of to-day in Michigan and Iowa, to under- 
stand how the omnipotent God can be trusted to reveal the 
truth in any language but the Dutch, or in any theology 
but that of Dordrecht and the seventeenth century. How, 
also, sound catechetics can be taught in English is still, to 
some fresh from the turf of Patria, a mystery passing their 
understanding. 

The clannishness of Hollanders is perhaps due 
chiefly to their activity in church affairs. One can 
not deny that they look askance at the habits, man- 
ners, and usages of Americans in religious life. 
Pastors of both Dutch denominations assume a nat- 
ural leadership in the community and their congre- 
gations continue to represent old-fashioned ortho- 
doxy. What was once asserted with regard to the 
Dutch Eeformed Church applies with equal force 
to the Christian Eeformed Church, namely, that in 
loyalty to the interests of their church, in charity 
and truth, in practical piety and Christian bene- 
ficence, the people of Dutch congregations in the 
West in no respect fall behind American church- 
men. Surely they "are not perfect; they have not 
reached the ideal of Christendom; but they are a 



316 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

serious, industrious, and pious people who do not 
need to retire on account of a comparison with other 
congregations. ' ' ^^* 



XL 

COMMUNITY LIFE AMONG THE HOLLAND- 
ERS IN IOWA 

The Dutch nation has always been an easy subject 
for ''the panegyrical and eulogistic historian". The 
indomitable traits of the Dutch national character, 
revealed by the annals of Holland's Golden Age 
which are among the most interesting in the world's 
history, have endured until this day, though Hol- 
land's splendor and glory as a first-rate power of 
Europe have long since declined. Despite national 
decay every intelligent Hollander, whether he is 
thrown among strangers or remains at home, re- 
tains a strong feeling of national pride. He honors 
the memory of his ancestors for their deeds of hero- 
ism and bravery, even when he comes to live among 
the inhabitants of successful Dutch communities in 
Iowa. 

Impelled by a love of religious liberty and a hope 
of finding for themselves and their children larger 
opportunities to live, hundreds of Hollanders re- 
moved to America in 1846 and 1847, some to dwell 
in the unpeopled forests of western Michigan and 
others to occupy the frontier farms of central Iowa. 
Though religion has ceased to be a cause of emigra- 
tion, much the same type — the Hollander of old- 

317 



318 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

fashioned ways and sturdy puritanical mien — con- 
tinues to arrive in Iowa. Those who were once 
heralded as ''an interesting and valuable class of 
foreigners" have undergone the process of Amer- 
icanization for several decades. More recent im- 
migrants — although some to be sure have left Hol- 
land for their country's good — are in general no 
less valuable as an acquisition to America's con- 
glomerate of nationalities. 

Although the Hollanders have occupied territory 
in Marion County and vicinity for nearly sixty- 
five years, they have not yet become amalgamated 
with the American people of Anglo-Saxon origin. 
They still form a distinctively Dutch community, as 
do their kinsmen and fellow-countrymen of north- 
western Iowa. For perpetuating this peculiar aloof- 
ness perhaps no other single agency has been so 
responsible as the church. In the local social life 
of the Dutch the churches are undoubtedly the 
strongest factor : they have kept the Hollanders iso- 
lated from close and intimate relations with their 
English-speaking and German neighbors. 

Naturally Dutch immigrants also show an in- 
clination to look upon the people of other nationali- 
ties with a somewhat supercilious air — a feeling 
which has accordingly retarded intermarriage. For 
years sons of well-to-do Hollanders have married 
daughters of other well-to-do Hollanders, oftentimes 
brothers of one family choosing sisters of another, 
and usually all belong to the same church denomina- 



COMMUNITY LIFE 319 

ation, a stereotyped rule which loses some of its 
force with each succeeding generation. 

Whenever from choice or from force of circum- 
stances the Dutch immigrant makes his home among 
Americans he shows that he possesses the imita- 
tive faculty to a high degree : he is quick to adopt 
the habits and methods of his American neighbors, 
and experiences no particular difficulty in casting 
off much of his old Dutch sturdiness. But when he 
prefers to throw in his lot with a community of his 
fellow-countrymen, he conforms to a well-preserved 
social order based on Dutch stability and stolidity. 
He finds that his Dutch neighbors have lived and 
worked within the confines of their settlement, 
whether in town or in the country: that nearly all 
are engaged and interested in the same occupations ; 
and that their whole life is centred about their 
churches. 

And so with the retention of old Dutch national 
traits intensified by constant accessions of fresh 
blood from The Netherlands, despite their patriot- 
ism and partial adoption of the English language, 
American inventions, and a few American ways, 
the Hollanders of Iowa form a lump which can not 
truthfully be said to have entered the American 
''melting pot". They are still for the most part an 
unassimilated, clannish, though not entirely isolated, 
mass of foreigners who have necessarily acquired an 
American veneer from the environment created by 
the political and social ideas of America. 



320 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

TOWK LIFE 

Town life among the Hollanders of Iowa does 
not appear to be unlike that of the ordinary Amer- 
ican community, and yet upon close observation 
many points of difference suggest themselves. Pel- 
la, despite its age and its large American element, 
is still the typical Dutch town of Iowa. Like other 
towns where Hollanders live in numbers, Pella cov- 
ers an immense area of country, a very natural re- 
sult when people purchase large plots of land for 
their houses, barns, and gardens. Old-fashioned 
Hollanders are not easily satisfied with a mere city 
lot: they want room for a potato patch and for 
various kinds of vegetables of which they may eat 
in season and store a surplus for the winter, and 
they take a keen delight in exercising their know- 
ledge of gardening.-^^ The younger generation, how- 
ever, tends to pull away from the soil, and to apply 
spare moments to the care of lawns and flower beds. 
But generally speaking, Hollanders show more in- 
terest in ordinary gardening than their American 
neighbors; and except when their houses occupy 
conspicuous places, they manifest less consideration 
for lawns and lawn-mowers. Day-laborers pay least 
attention to these matters : few can spare the time 
and many take no pride in premises which they do 
not own. 

Arboriculture, and more especially landscape 
gardening by means of grades and terraces, seem 
to be classed by most Dutch towns-people among the 



COMMUNITY LIFE 321 

frills and luxuries of life and are, therefore, not 
deemed worthy of much serious attention. Or- 
chards are comparatively few in town or country, 
and where they do exist they are in most cases al- 
lowed to grow up wild. Indeed, Hollanders in Iowa 
do not seem to appreciate fully the value and beauty 
of fruit trees : Sioux County ranks ninety-sixth in 
the State of Iowa, only three counties having a 
smaller acreage in orchards ! Ornamental trees and 
shrubbery are only occasionally seen. Eetired 
farmers, a numerous class in most Dutch towns, 
have more time for such pursuits as flower culture, 
lawn-mowing, and gardening ; and they usually have 
yards that are models of cleanliness and rustic sim- 
plicity. Dutch tulip and hyacinth bulbs have been 
imported every year into at least one town. 

Good substantial hardwood trees seem never to 
have appealed strongly to the Hollanders of Iowa. 
They cut down nearly all of the fine hardwood tim- 
ber of Marion County for their pioneer dwellings. 
There as in Sioux County Dutch farmers and towns- 
people have had an eye for quick results rather than 
for permanent beauty, for in their impatience to en- 
joy shade in summer and protection from cold blasts 
in winter they planted cheap softwood trees. Box- 
elders, cottonwoods, and soft maples are seldom ob- 
jects of comeliness in yards or upon city streets, 
least of all when they begin to display dead branches 
and decayed wood : they give towns an appearance of 
premature age and suggest a lack of local civic 
pride. Elms, oaks, hard maples, and hickories may 



322 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

be better adapted to a gravel soil and running water, 
but they flourish wherever they have been planted 
in Sioux County towns, though the enjoyment of 
shade was postponed for several years. 

Picket and woven wire fences still exist to a 
large extent in the towns, but hedges not at all. For 
the sake of simplicity and economy the Hollander 
upon the farm prefers barbed wire, and usually 
builds no fence along the country road, an arrange- 
ment which enables him to cultivate a considerable 
strip of the public highway. The Hollander in town, 
believing in privacy as well as orderliness, sur- 
rounds his premises with a fence of some sort, but 
studiously avoids cutting off his view of the street : 
he wants to be able to see passersby. 

Houses in Pella and other Dutch towns are in 
general plain frame buildings of various shapes and 
sizes, standing at irregular distances from the street. 
Owing to lack of uniformity in this respect town 
streets present an appearance by no means attrac- 
tive. At Pella one-story frame and brick cottages, 
many with green and yellow shutters modelled after 
the cottages of Holland, stand here and there as re- 
minders of the early years. As in American towns, 
there are, of course, many houses of modern archi- 
tecture, reflecting various degrees of personal taste, 
but generally exteriors as well as interiors affect 
severe simplicity with all the proverbial evidences 
of Dutch cleanliness. This plainness tends to give 
way as wealth increases and the desire for display 
enters the minds of the younger people. The piano 



COMMUNITY LIFE 323 

has found its way into the parlors of Dutch com- 
munities, rather as an object of decoration than as 
an indication of culture, refinement, or musical 
talent, for the music-teacher has received but scant 
encouragement. Hollanders show more fondness 
for vocal than for instrumental music. 

As in most other respects, in dress the Holland- 
ers, men and women and children, maintain the 
same strict simplicity. Certainly gaudiness and the 
latest styles from the world's fashion centers are not 
paraded where the Dutch live, for society makes few 
demands upon them. Social intercourse can not be 
said to reign or even to exist in private life except 
among peoj^le who happen to be more or less as- 
sociated in business, although considerable fellow- 
ship is bound up with church life. The genuine, 
hard-working Hollander is more often a man of 
domestic tastes, closely attached to his home with its 
simple comforts and a housewife's excellent cook- 
ing : such a place affords him the best retreat. 

Dutch dishes of well-cooked, wholesome foods of 
the heavier sort still predominate among the Hol- 
landers of Iowa; but of course some American 
dishes have been adopted. Edam cheese, smoked 
beef, rye bread, rusks, currant bread, Sint Nicolaas 
cookies, and other national delicacies have survived 
the journey across the Atlantic and are just as popu- 
lar among the Dutch in America as in Holland. 
Needless to say the Dutch eat heartily. 

A visitor to the home of a Hollander of average 



324 THE HOLTiANDERS OF IOWA 

means is greeted with frank hospitality and unre- 
served courtesy. If he comes in the morning at 
about ten o'clock, he will be treated to coffee and 
something to eat with it. In the same way will he 
be welcomed at mid-afternoon, a custom which pre- 
vails especially upon the farms where the men have 
their refreshments regularly mornings and after- 
noons. Good manners are generally the mark of 
the foreign-born Hollander who has had some ex- 
perience of social ranks, but they are not infre- 
quently missing in Dutch children reared in the 
American atmosphere of hurry and money-making. 

Hollanders who have sprung from the middle 
class of townspeople in The Netherlands have re- 
tained intact in America most of the traits character- 
istic of genteel people everywhere. Culture, how- 
ever, in the broad sense of the word, is conspicuously 
absent in the life of most Hollanders in Iowa. With 
the exception of ministers, teachers, and other peo- 
ple of more than ordinary education, the Hollanders, 
it is to be feared, have sadly neglected even the most 
accessible forms of culture, such as reading, for in 
a majority of homes the visitor will find but a scant 
supply of good newspapers, magazines, and books. ^''^ 
To stimulate interest in reading, a Dutch woman, 
Miss Sieberke Viersen, donated land and money for 
the Carnegie-Viersen Library at Pella. Other Dutch 
communities are as yet without such modern oppor- 
tunities. 

The following quotation with reference to the 



COMMUNITY LIFE 325 

first Dutch immigrants to Iowa does not apply to the 
great mass of Hollanders who arrived later: 

Even among those Pilgrims who had fled from religious 
persecution in Holland and were professed lovers of Demo- 
cracy, there were degrees in the social scale. The wealthy 
and educated and more refined were exclusive. They 
brought their ideas of social position with them. The social 
line between master and servant, or employer and employed, 
was much more marked than with Americans of this new 
western country. A young lady who belonged to a family 
of "upper ten" Hollanders once said to me: "I never 
worked in Holland for it was considered disgraceful there 
for a lady to work, but in America I find it is thought to be 
disgraceful for a lady not to work. ' ' ^^'^ 

It is true, however, that among the pioneers 
there prevailed greater simplicity of taste and a 
wider community of interest than exists among their 
successors to-day. In all the towns where Holland- 
ers live one may find unmistakable signs of undemo- 
cratic ways : some citizens put on airs, not marked, 
but none the less noticeable. At the same time there 
exists a fairly even distribution of wealth, and one 
notes neither extreme wealth nor extreme poverty; 
while as far as descent is concerned the Hollanders 
of Iowa are for the most part sprung from the com- 
mon people of Holland: hence there is at least an 
equality of birth, even if the people are not equally 
wealthy, intelligent, and cultured. A tendency to es- 
tablish ranks on the basis of wealth has sprung up ; 
but despite airs of superiority, real or imagined, Hol- 
landers in America address each other familiarly in 



326 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Dutch, a thing which they did not and could not do 
in monarchical Holland where class distinctions and 
special forms of address abound. 

Business men of the towns naturally assume the 
initiative in matters of civic concern, for if such af- 
fairs were left to retired farmers, artisans, and 
laboring men, no great amount of public spirit would 
be shown. Much has already been accomplished in 
the way of municipal improvements in such towns 
as Pella, Orange City, Alton, and Sioux Center. Pel- 
la has electric light and water conveyed from the Des 
Moines River, about four miles distant, and lights 
some of its streets with electroliers. Orange City 
also has electricity, while the other towns own gas 
plants. All have telephones and miles upon miles 
of good cement walks and crossings. 

Public parks in the two older towns do not seem 
to inspire much civic pride, are little enjoyed, and 
less attended to. Band-stands also have stood for 
many years, but there is not the sustained enthu- 
siasm which is necessary to maintain bands year 
after year. And yet when such organizations as 
brass-bands and base-ball teams are called into ex- 
istence, they are liberally supported by the business 
men and citizens. Young men outgrow their period 
of play and early direct their efforts to the achieve- 
ment of financial success — whereupon they have no 
time to sacrifice in purely congenial pursuits. 

Public school buildings in the Dutch communities 
compare favorably with those of American towns. 
Jails might just as well not exist, for lawlessness is 



COMMUNITY LIFE 327 

almost unknown. The saloons of two or three years 
ago have been plucked out of Pella, Orange City, and 
some other towns, and though a visit to their rail- 
road stations reveals a brisk traffic in liquor, Hol- 
landers are pretty evenly divided between temper- 
ance and total abstinence. 

Neat stores and good shop windows add much 
to the appearance of most of the towns. Wlien 
high market prices induce farmers to go to town with 
their loads of hogs or grain, and when Saturdays 
come, town streets and stores lose their deserted 
look and business becomes paramount. Then town 
and country people throng the shops — the former to 
buy goods for cash, and the latter to trade their 
butter and eggs for the next week's supplies. Then 
one hears a Babel of dialects from nearly all the 
provinces of Holland. 

There are people who speak the dialects peculiar 
to the fertile sea-clay and marshy fen lands of South 
and North Holland ; there are natives from the archi- 
pelago of Zeeland, from the beautiful woodland and 
meadows of Utrecht, and others come from the sand- 
hills of Gelderland. Still others hail from the 
meadows and moors of Overysel, from the desolate 
wastes of fen-land and heather-covered moorland of 
Drenthe; and many speak the droll dialect of the 
agricultural province of Groningen or the language 
of Friesland. Pure Dutch, when it is heard, is a wel- 
come relief in the midst of such a jargon of tongues. 
Furthermore, in conversation and in business trans- 



328 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

actions people adopt Americanisms of common us- 
age, and oftentimes they alternate between English 
and Dutch. Indeed, there is no better time than 
Saturday afternoons to observe that the Dutch lan- 
guage can not withstand the persistent inroads of the 
English. (See Appendix C.) 

One still occasionally meets with old immigrants 
who wear plain band earrings of silver or gold. 
While wooden-shoes are not worn in public, they are 
manufactured for home use in every Dutch com- 
munity: they are a convenient accessory by the use 
of which every good housewife is relieved of the 
constant application of mop or broom, for either in 
town or country they may be stepped into as one 
leaves the house, worn upon wet lawns or muddy 
yards, and left at the door upon returning. They 
help to keep the house ''netjes" (neat). 

Hollanders take very little interest in the forms 
of recreation and amusement so popular in American 
towns and cities : they are such poor patrons of 
''shows" of every kind that traveling companies 
habitually pass them by as unprofitable. Halls are 
sometimes used for political gatherings, band con- 
certs, and lecture courses — for which townspeople 
are with some difficulty induced to subscribe. Skat- 
ing-rinks, moving-picture shows, and dances at- 
tract the younger folks, but dancing is rarely in- 
dulged in because it shocks and antagonizes older 
people. Fourth of July celebrations among the Hol- 
landers do not differ from the boisterous exhibitions 



COMMUNITY LIFE 329 

so peculiar to America, but in Sic ax County hun- 
dreds of people spend the day together in a quiet 
Christian way. Street fairs, too, and carnivals, and 
agricultural and stock shows are becoming more 
popular and surely more easily accessible since au- 
tomobiles have come along to annihilate time and 
space; but the devil-may-care spirit of the Dutch 
''kermis" or annual fair in Holland is not to be met 
with in Iowa. 

Generally speaking, the old-fashioned Hollanders 
of Iowa do not assemble in large numbers except for 
religious or church purposes. As the years pass, 
however, the young people tend more and more in 
their everyday life to adopt the ways of the Amer- 
ican public and to break with the orthodox views of 
their elders, and thus exert a softening influence on 
the hard tone of community life; but parents con- 
tinue to hope and pray that their children will re- 
tain the traditional hardihood, industry, frugality, 
thrift, morality, and religion for which the Holland- 
ers are famous as a people. 

COUNTEY LIFE 

The following are the words of an American pio- 
neer woman who saw the Pella Hollanders on the 
road to their lands in Marion County and who knew 
them as neighbors for nearly sixty years.^^^ What 
she said is true of the great mass of Dutch immi- 
grants to Iowa: since their first harvest in the au- 
tumn of 1848, when they took pride in the fact that 
they kept their farms neater than Americans did, 



330 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

their chief contribution to the progress and wealth 
of the State has been in the domain of agriculture : ^^^ 

We were prepared to think well of this people, for we 
had heard only good of their character. We had been told 
that they were an honest, moral, industrious, God-fearing 
people, and from that time to the present have never heard 
it disputed. . . . All these Hollanders had money, some 
had a good deal, and they all seemed to know the best way 
to invest it. . . . It wasn't long before their superior 
farming and gardening began to be noticed and talked 
about, and many slovenly farmers were induced to make 
more out of their rich lands through the example of those 
frugal and thrifty Hollanders. They were not only indus- 
trious and prosperous but were hospitable. We used to 
wonder at the pluck, the endurance and the patience of 
those people. . . . They learned long ago how to manage 
the rich Iowa soil and their magnificent farms with commo- 
dious buildings reach out miles and miles in every direction 
from Pella. 

As an element in the rural population of Iowa the 
immigrant farmers from Holland have found that 
the soil of Iowa, unlike that of their native land, 
lends itself easily to cultivation on account of its 
looseness and lightness, and that by reason of its 
fertility it yields rich crops for a long series of 
years almost entirely without the aid of fertilizing 
materials. In Holland, as peasant laborers and 
peasant farmers, they were compelled to subject the 
soil to much careful and laborious attention; with 
fewer acres to cultivate they made their little farms 
bear two or three crops each season. In the father- 
land theirs was the unending toil of men, but in 



COMMUNITY LIFE 331 

Iowa where they gather only one crop annually 
labor is less grinding, for from large farms they 
reap wheat, oats, and barley which ripen with great 
rapidity, and Indian corn which shoots beyond the 
need of man's work in a few weeks' time. 

In Holland where they had steady work in the 
fields, laborers were so plentiful and so cheap that 
nearly all the work was done by hand. In America 
the Hollander prefers to attend to his own business 
rather than another's and consequently farm ser- 
vants as a class are scarce. He finds that Yankee 
ingenuity and inventiveness have come to the rescue 
of the American farmer: gangplows, wide harrows, 
pulverizers, seeders, mowers, hay-rakes, binders, and 
threshing-machines, and all the other agricultural 
conveniences supply the place of human hands. But 
at the same time many a Dutch woman reared on 
Iowa soil has helped her father or husband do gen- 
eral farm work during a busy season. 

The Hollander farms on a big scale even if he is 
not always thorough. Accustomed to neatness and 
economy in Holland he at first shudders with horror 
at the sight of weeds and waste upon American 
farms ; but he is soon hardened, if not reconciled, to 
such surroundings, because he discovers that they 
are attendant upon American farm methods. If he 
is fortunate enough to have a large family of sons, 
the Dutch farmer plays havoc with weeds and en- 
deavors to eradicate all traces of them from his 
sight ; while in the matter of wastefulness he is, per- 
haps, not so guilty as his American neighbors.^"" 



332 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Intrenched upon some of the most fruitful land, 
unsurpassed for richness of soil, the Hollanders of 
Marion County and of Sioux County later have 
looked upon agriculture as their chief source of live- 
lihood, for success has consistently attended their 
efforts. That the Dutch are among the best farmers 
in the State of Iowa and therefore in the United 
States can be gathered from many years of agricul- 
tural history. In Sioux County where 1440 farmers 
are foreign-born and 1275 are native-born (Sioux 
County's northern neighbor, Lyon County, is the 
only other Iowa county where foreign-born outnum- 
ber native-born), the farmers of Dutch birth and an- 
cestry form a majority.^"^ Statistics of 1910 for Sioux 
County, the most typical and most prosperous Dutch 
farming community in America, reveal no less the 
character of Dutch farmers in other counties of Iowa. 

Sioux County has farm property including land, 
buildings, implements and machinery, domestic ani- 
mals, poultry and bees, valued at nearly $65,000,000, 
and in this matter bows only to Pottawattamie 
County which has an area one hundred square miles 
larger. Next to Kossuth, Plymouth, and Pottawat- 
tamie counties, each of which covers an area one- 
eighth larger, Sioux County contains the largest 
number of acres of improved land. 

The farmers of Sioux County rank fourth in 
acres planted in corn and tie for second place in the 
number of bushels raised ; fifth in acres of oats and 
third in bushels raised; and first in acres planted in 
barley and in bushels raised. They sow almost no 



COMMUNITY LIFE 333 

winter wheat and rank fourth for spring wheat. 
Sionx County stands sixth in the number of horses, 
sixth in the number of cattle, eighteenth in the num- 
ber of milk-cows, third in number of hogs, and thirty- 
eighth in poultry. 

As compared with other counties of larger area, 
Sioux County shows a wonderful record in agri- 
culture and stock-raising. Naturally well-drained, 
farms there require no help from man ; indeed, tile- 
laying is more of an industry among the Hollanders 
of Marion County. In recent years Dutch farmers 
have learned that taking the same crop from the 
same land without rest or interruption is an exhaus- 
tive and unwise policy to pursue. Of fertilizing their 
fields they formerly had little thought, but in 1908 
Sioux County farmers, and the Hollanders especial- 
ly, did more to improve the fertility of their soil 
than the farmers of any other county in Iowa. And 
although the average value of land per acre in Sioux 
County is from $100 to $125, land values among the 
Hollanders hover around the $150 and $200 marks. 
As a matter of fact there is not much land on the 
market, and rents are climbing higher and higher.^°- 

There was a time also when the Hollanders cared 
very little about improving the breed of horses, cat- 
tle, and hogs : ' ' scrubs ' ' were good enough. But as 
prosperity increased and as their knowledge of 
American farm life grew, especially from visits to 
county agricultural fairs, there was awakened in 
them a desire to have only blooded stock. To-day 
they think better of raising horses, cattle, and hogs 



334 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

related to the best strain of imported and registered 
breeds. Fine herds of Durham, Hereford, Holstein, 
Friesian, Shorthorn, and other breeds of cattle are 
not numerous, but are at least aspired after. Poland 
China, Duroc Jersey, and Berkshire hogs are one of 
the main sources of revenue. The pride of the Dutch 
farmer is fine draft horses sired by the best imported 
Percheron, Norman, and Clydesdale stallions, which 
are usually bought and owned by associations of 
farmers.^"^ 

As in Holland, Dutch farmers in Iowa show a 
tendency to work on old-fashioned principles and to 
neglect or even laugh at scientific farming : they are 
inclined to be skeptical about modern improved 
methods, and either have a low opinion or none at all 
of the doctrines propounded by agricultural theorists 
who occasionally lecture among them. On the other 
hand, they make up for that handicap by being thor- 
oughly hard-working and thrifty. Their wives and 
daughters are none the less energetic, often working 
in the fields; while, generally speaking, they have 
few of the wants which so often accompany the life 
of Yankee farmers. 

And though there may be lack of education 
among many of the Hollanders, they are by no means 
ignorant men. Neighbors are on the best of terms 
and help one another in the busy season. When a 
progressive Hollander or American has successfully 
experimented with some new idea, his neighbors 
soon wake up to the fact and are glad to learn a prac- 
tical lesson. Thev are slow but sure: the value of 



COMMUNITY LIFE 335 

the automobile to the farmer has recently been dem- 
onstrated to them, not without result. It remains 
to be seen whether Dutch farmers will invest in silos, 
the latest farm novelty. Sioux County could boast 
of sixteen in 1908 and Marion County had but one. 
They had thirty-nine and fourteen, respectively, in 
1910.^°^ 

Hollanders on the farms of Iowa have not been 
much given to reading : they have shown a lamentable 
backwardness in this respect, perhaps because they 
work from early in the morning till late at night. 
But whether they lacked the time or the inclination 
in past years, thej have begun to feel the need of 
such weeklies as The Homestead, Wallace's Farmer, 
The Farmer's Tribune, and The Stock-breeder's 
Journal, as well as of daily newspapers for the lat- 
est market reports. All of these innovations, besides 
rural telephones and rural mail deliveries in both 
Sioux and Marion counties, have brought the Hol- 
landers into closer touch with the world. Slowly 
but surely they are installing the latest conveniences 
in their houses and the most practical mechanical 
appliances upon their farms, but they never lose 
sight of their motto to buy land, keep it, and treat it 
well. 

The Hollander can not be said to belong to that 
class of people who live beyond their means, but he 
is, on the contrary, an extremely conservative 
spender and investor. As his wealth accumulates 
he becomes more willing to incur occasional expense 
for this or that luxury, but the element of specula- 



336 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

tion for the sake of increased returns does not lure 
him to adopt all the up-to-date methods of his wide- 
awake progressive American neighbors. At the end 
of the year, however, the Dutch farmer can point to 
a comfortable margin in his favor, even if he has not 
enjoyed all the comforts of his Yankee brothers. 
Such is the thrift of Hollanders that ninety-five per 
cent of the chattel mortgages in Marion County 
cover property owned by farmers south of the Des 
Moines River where comparatively few Hollanders 
live. Such is their honesty that the banks of Pella 
have more unsecured notes than any other banks in 
Iowa.^°^ 

Judging from their past and present enthusiasm 
for agriculture the Hollanders of Iowa will not soon 
desert their farms. Immigrants from Holland are 
willing to work harder in America because they can 
find financial contentment sooner, while the sons of 
immigrants are convinced that farming is on the 
whole a very satisfactory occupation, even if not al- 
ways pleasant. Like the Scandinavians and the Ger- 
mans of Iowa, the Hollanders are sons of the soil 
with inexhaustible patience and a willingness to take 
pains; and as perhaps no other foreigners in the 
United States they exemplify the truth of the asser- 
tion that northern Europeans will be able to take 
care of America's farms in the future: they are 
workers, plodders, savers; and they know how to 
make farms pay. 



APPENDICES 



APPENDIX A 

Letter from Hendrik Barendregt to H. P. Scholte 

Those portions of Barendregt 's letter to Rev. H. 
P. Scholte which depicted conditions in the Missis- 
sippi Valley in 1846 and informed oncoming Dutch 
emigrants as to matters connected with the voyage 
to America deserve to be translated and preserved 
as an interesting picture of the times. Copious ex- 
tracts follow: 

As we entered the Gulf of Mexico on the 14th of No- 
vember, the wind changed so that we sailed before it and on 
the 18th we could see the low shores of the New World. 
We were pulled along farther by a steam tug which tows 
vessels up the Mississippi, no matter how the wind blows, 
and at 7 a. m. we arrived at New Orleans. The Lord had 
surely helped us. Although we came by a round-about way, 
we completed the voyage from Holland to New Orleans in 
45 days. We had five deaths and three births — all Ger- 
mans. 

To be brief I shall not write too much of what we saw 
upon the Mississippi, only something of New Orleans : this 
is a very large and extensive city ; everything seems to be 
but just begun, and one sees hundreds of houses rising up 
everywhere; all is bustle, unusually so on account of the 
rattle and rumble of wagons and carts. Six hundred ocean 
ships lie alongside the wharves three by three, also a large 
number of steamboats, mostly very big for their kind but of 

339 



340 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

construction entirely different from that of boats in Hol- 
land. They say that 1300 of these are engaged upon the 
]\Iississippi, and I can easily believe it judging from all the 
hustle and hurry. Sailing vessels one does not see; they 
can not be used since the river channel is very crooked and 
the wind can never blow in such a way as to allow ships to 
make headway. The stream flows constantly and the river 
banks are covered with trees so that neither horses nor 
human beings can draw a ship. Then too, distances are so 
long that 10 or 12 hours is a mere trifle. From New Or- 
leans to St. Louis is 1200 or 1300 English miles. Shipping 
as in Holland is therefore impracticable. 

Arriving at New Orleans in the morning, that same day 
we took a steamboat to carry us up the river. The fare was 
$2.50 or one half for children under nine years of age, 
while each person had 100 pounds of baggage free, and for 
additional freight one had to pay 25 cents per hundred 
pounds. We paid some money down before starting. 

The following will serve as a bit of information : before 
a ship arrives at New Orleans, a customs officer comes on 
board. He makes out a list of the families and the number 
of people composing them as well as the number of trunks 
and fire-arms. I advise everyone to answer his questions 
accurately, not to conceal anything as the expense is the 
same whether one has six or twelve trunks. 

He only wishes to know what every immigrant has. 
One receives two blank papers — these one must get filled 
out in the toll-house, as the office is called, the sooner the 
better. The officer has the right to demand 50 American 
cents for the two papers; but he may also give them free 
of cost and so one can try to get them for less money — the 
poor now and then excite pity. At the time of signing one 
pays 20 cents more for the two papers. I write this because 



APPENDIX A 341 



some imagine that all this is unnecessary graft, but this is 
really not so, for the officer who superintends the inspection 
of one's property lets nothing pass for which one does not 
have papers. One must also make out a paper and have it 
signed by the captain, wherein is receipted the amount of 
money paid down for freight upon the steamboat. 

The river steamboats all lie at the wharves, with sign- 
boards which bear the date of departure and the destination. 
One goes aboard and usually finds the captain, with whom 
one makes the contract. . . . Everywhere there are inter- 
preters w^ho desire to be of service to you at all times ; these 
are unnecessary if you have with you a person who speaks 
English ; if among your company no one can be found who 
has a command of this language, as was the case with us, it is 
best to employ them, but always with caution, because some 
of them are grafters. We were fortunate to get a reason- 
ably good man. 

This too is a serious matter : everywhere along our route 
people try to reduce the value of our gold money and also 
the five-franc pieces, and here a gold piece is worth about 
four dollars; as to the five-franc pieces I have had no ex- 
perience. 

This also is good advice: "Know the Lord in all thy 
ways." The application which we have made of this is 
broad. Think of it: the steamboat which we visited first 
with our interpreter and which asked a three-dollar fare, 
departed a short while before we did, and when we overtook 
her three days later, we learned that she had collided with 
another boat in the midst of a thick fog, had burst a boiler, 
and sunk so that forty-five passengers lost their lives ! We 
saved the crew and a few others from the wreck and put 
them ashore at the first town. That we did not take passage 
on the steamboat is not to be ascribed to our wisdom, be- 



342 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

cause the fare demanded was not at all extortionate ; be- 
sides, she appeared to be a good boat, while ours was much 
older and weaker ; we also learned that she was very slow ; 
in short, that we did not choose the unfortunate boat was 
the Lord's work: let Him be thanked and praised. 

We finished the trip from New Orleans to St. Louis in 
nine days. Along this river from beginning to end are 
wooded banks. Never would I have imagined that there was 
still so much apparently quite useless timber in the world ; 
and now I can very readily believe that I have seen but a 
small portion of America, as here and there one perceives 
the beginning or laying out of a city. At first one sees 
sugar cane, further on cotton, and then, through openings 
in the timber, fields of maize ; furthermore the river is filled 
with floating logs which are everywhere sent adrift along 
the banks. 

Here at St. Louis there is much industry; 1300 new 
buildings are being constructed, 500 were completed this 
past summer, and everything seems to be but just begun. 
They say that the city is three hours long ; this strikes me as 
rather exaggerated, but I have no good reason to doubt it. 
Two of our brethren tried to see the city from one end to 
the other ; but as it took so long, they got tired and turned 
back. 

The incoming and outgoing steamboats are also very 
numerous here. Everything is conveyed across the city here 
and at New Orleans by means of horses, mules, or oxen, 
of which one sometimes sees as many as twelve but usually 
eight drawing a wagon. Cattle are butchered, quartered, 
and piled on carts. 

Everything comes to market: vegetables, apples, po- 
tatoes, mutton, fish of all sorts ; but nothing can be called 
cheap, except bread, meal or flour, meat and pork: these 



APPENDIX A 343 



alone are to be classed among cheap articles in America. 
And although there is so much timber, if one has to buy 
firewood, he has to pay a big price. 

Here winter set in just as we arrived. Everything is 
snowed under, and just now it is freezing besides, but not 
severely. The journey to Iowa or Wisconsin we cannot con- 
tinue because the river is too low for steamboat travel. But 
this we don't consider necessary since we have met with 
several brothers from Winterswijk, of whom two had just 
been to Iowa shortly before our arrival. Besides, there are 
German brethren here, Methodists, who are acquainted with 
all conditions, have shown us much friendliness and willing- 
ness to help, and have undertaken to answer the questions 
which you gave me to prompt my investigations. Enclosed 
is a letter by one of them in the German language. So 
much of it as he read to me, I can best guarantee to be the 
exact truth. 

The following will serve to explain matters : 

1. Land along the rivers is everywhere in the hands of 
speculators, from whom it is still to be obtained at an in- 
creased price. 

2. Stock is not so expensive. For $10 one can buy a 
good cow with calf. Also, Jan Schaap and I saw a horse 
which looked sound and fast, for which not more than $15 
was offered. 

3. Bricks are large, almost like the red bricks of Hol- 
land but they are not baked hard, hence not of the best qual- 
ity. Lime is fairly good, 20 cents per bushel which is 
equivalent to 50 cents for 25 pounds in The Netherlands. 

4. I myself have Iwught good fat meat for two cents 
and pork for 2i/4 cents per pound. As to the weight, I be- 
lieve the pound here is less than the pound of five ounces in 
Holland. 



344 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

5. Feathers are very good at 25 cents per pound. 

If you abide by your decision to settle in North America, 
then the following will also serve to inform you : 

First: Every land-buyer who wants to cultivate land 
of his own must above all manage to bring his laborers with 
him from Holland, if he thinks he wall need help. 

Secondly: The cost of living will be moderate before 
one gets a crop ; bread and meat and pork are necessities 
and they are cheap here; for clothing, house-rent, and fire- 
wood one need have no anxiety. 

Thirdly : For those who are good makers of butter and 
cheese prospects are certainly fine, because these products 
are bad in the market here. As to dairy appliances it will 
be well to take along as many as possible, especially what 
can be packed into boxes. On shipboard one needs pay no 
more for them and steamboat freight is only 25 cents per 
hundred pounds. Everything is obtainable here, but gener- 
ally expensive. I give the same advice as to all tools and 
implements, for example those needed for agriculture and 
all sorts of trades ; yet I should certainly not advise you to 
buy anything new in Holland to take with you, since the 
difference in price is not large enough. Besides there is 
much difference in tools and not everyone must expect to be 
able to remain a Hollander if he comes to live in America ; 
ways and manners should be followed here. My meaning is 
that he who has tools should not throw them away for a 
trifle, especially not if they are still good ; but to take trash 
along to America is always nonsense. 

I may also add that everyone should take his best table- 
ware if it is not too easily broken; if it is well packed be- 
tween clothing in boxes full to the cover, one can easily 
keep it whole ; our things thus far are pretty well preserved 
despite the fact that our boxes are sometimes rolled along 



APPENDIX A 345 



like barrels. Thus anyone can well understand that boxes 
should be particularly strong; for I have seen many 
smashed and then much hard treatment of the contents; 
also, the boxes must not be too big, for in that event they 
are handled more harshly still. 

Further I shall give some advice relative to food-stuff 
and household articles : 

There should be 160 pounds for each person, distributed 
as follows : 10 pounds of bacon, reasonably thick, for mak- 
ing pan-cakes ; 10 pounds of ham to eat with bread, etc. ; 
10 pounds of meat; 20 pounds of rice, which costs nearly 
the same here ; 20 pounds of flour, which should all be used 
up ; 15 pounds of potatoes ; 20 pounds of green peas, of the 
best quality ; if one can save these, they can be used as seed, 
as I have seen only poor ones here and expensive ones at 
that; 20 pounds of capuchin peas; 30 pounds of the best 
bread cut into slices and well dried ; 5 pounds of ordinary 
rusks. 

Further it is well and useful to bring a quantity of 
headcheese, besides butter, cheese, loaf-sugar, prunes, and 
everything one can eat without cooking, sweet cake, various 
drinks, wine, brandy, Rhine wine, gin, vinegar, salt, mus- 
tard, pepper, coffee, tea, as well as some household remedies 
for illness, for the Americans have no doctor on board, and 
so everyone takes care of himself. 

The household utensils consist of tea-kettle, copper or 
iron cooking-pot, tin pan, tin-plates from which to eat, 
since passengers can seldom sit together regularly, tin water- 
cans or kegs, etc. If a person must go singly, I advise him 
to cooperate with six or eight others, or else the company 
will be too large, and differences of opinion are likely to 
arise. 



346 THE HOLLANDERS OP IOWA 

Further, I must say that the carriers here treat people 
variously; they appear to deduct as much as possible. 
Among us there were some who paid from 30 to 35 florins 
[$12 to $14] , and we had to pay 45 florins. There were also 
some on board our ship who were offered transportation on 
a good ship at 35 florins if their families wanted to take 
advantage of the offer in the spring. 

I do not exactly know whether to advise people to come 
by way of New York or New Orleans ; but this I know, that 
if one sails from Holland after the month of February, the 
journey by way of New Orleans is too hot; in that case I 
prefer New York; one should take into consideration the 
increased expense and trouble involved in taking a land 
journey; but if one can depart before or during the month 
of February, come to New Orleans, because that means a 
saving of trouble and expense. 

It also makes a great deal of difference where one ex- 
pects to settle. If Iowa is the place, the journey by way of 
New York is more difficult, as one must in all events go to 
]\'Iilwaukee first and from there back to Iowa, which is not 
necessary if one comes by way of New Orleans ; for then one 
can easily get to Iowa by steamboat. In all cases it is best 
for those who undoubtedly intend to settle in this region 
to come to St. Louis, whence it is so easy to depart in all 
directions. 

As to the climate, I understand it is much too warm for 
us here in the summer; for it happens that a laborer who 
chops wood or unloads wood from ships is offered three 
dollars a day in suimner, and now can get only 50 or 75 
cents. Iowa, I hear, is a good ways north and therefore 
much colder. 

All sorts of products are raised here : maize, wheat, rye, 



APPENDIX A 347 



oats, beans, etc. As for cabbage seed, it is hardly to be 
found ; since lard is cheap here, there is not much need of 
cabbage-seed oil. The prices of grain are not high — there 
is reason for this, but then we should have to enter into a 
discussion of several matters, viz., the yield of the land, 
labor, cost of planting, sowing, etc. But I am not well 
enough acquainted with the facts to speak about the matter, 
and there is little or no need to do so ; if for example I give 
a price, a person in Holland will prepare at once to make 
comparisons and figure according to Dutch standards. . . . 
Experience will be the best teacher here. 

As for the worship of God : one finds really God-fearing 
people among the Germans and also among the English; 
indeed there are many Christian negroes here. We find the 
Germans very friendly ; but we do not harmonize in every- 
thing. The Sabbath is reasonably respected. One finds no 
shocking immorality here, as in Rotterdam or other cities 
of Holland. 

As for the schools, you know they are free here; usu- 
ally there is a school with every church. I am not yet well 
enough informed so as to give a good account of the school 
system. Sunday-schools are numerous here, and one can get 
free instruction: these are also good to enable us to learn 
a little of the English language. He who knows English 
well possesses riches, if he comes here, from Holland. I 
cannot therefore enough urge everyone by all means to 
learn the English language. 

I have nothing special which I consider necessary to 
add. My request is that you be so good as to publish this 
letter so far as you are able, likewise to see to it that brother 

van H of R be informed at an early date. Tell 

him that as baker he could more easily be lord in St. Louis 



348 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

than citizen in Rotterdam. Also K , who put me many- 
questions which are answered herein ; also Mr. Jansdam, etc. 

Respectfully and affectionately, yours in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Hend'k Barendregt. 

N. B. Be sure to greet brother Betten. Of the letter 
written by Brummelkamp and van Raalte to procure finan- 
cial aid for the worthy poor, we here are not informed. 
Nor do we know anything of van Raalte and those who 
sailed with him. 



APPENDIX B 

The Attitude of the Hollanders of Iowa During 
THE Boer War 

During the closing montlis of the nineteenth cen- 
tury England had no enemies fiercer than the Hol- 
landers of Iowa. They manifested a vital concern in 
the outcome of differences between Boers and Brit- 
ons and contemplated every event in South Africa 
with feelings of intensest partisanship: never were 
newspapers more in demand, never were campaigns 
followed with keener interest, and never did victo- 
ries call forth more genuine exclamations of triumph. 

Eecalling the eTameson Eaid and the role played 
by Cecil Rhodes, "a great bandit", in South African 
affairs, and seeing how British aggression was grad- 
ually forcing the Boers into an unequal contest, the 
Hollanders were roused from their accustomed 
lethargy to vehement expressions of indignation. 
They interpreted events in South Africa as a veri- 
table call to arms to all Hollanders who loved jus- 
tice. Furthermore, did not they and the Boers 
spring from the same fatherland and speak the same 
language ? 

Those who advocated the principles of the Demo- 
cratic party were not the only Hollanders who insist- 
ed that President McKinley should intermeddle in 

349 



350 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Boer-British affairs. When matters were reaching 
a crisis the Eepublican administration called forth 
more and more criticism and abuse for its policy of 
neutrality, and when war finally broke out McKinley 
and all Republicans were loudly accused of hostility 
towards the Transvaal. 

No Dutch newspaper in Iowa gave more radical 
expression to its anti-Republican and anti-British 
feeling than De Vrije Hollander of Orange City. 
Van Oosterhout played upon the heart-strings of his 
readers. Patriotic Hollanders were reminded that 
the Boers were forced to fight for their freedom and 
their hearths against the mightiest country in the 
world ; all Hollanders were urged to show their sym- 
pathy for that heroic people. ''Let our Dutch news- 
papers declare themselves on this matter ; let us call 
meetings; let us prepare subscriptions", declared 
the editor, ''and let us show that we are with the 
Boers in their struggle heart and soul, let us help 
their widows and orphans — this is better than reso- 
lutions and telegrams. ' ' 

On the 15th of November, 1899, the first Trans- 
vaal meeting was held in Sioux County. Several 
ministers of Dutch churches took a prominent part, 
and a fund for Boer orphans and widows was at 
once started. Heading the list with a donation of 
$50, De Vrije Hollander for over two years contained 
weekly reports of the donors and the amounts of 
their gifts.^*"** 

On December 1, 1899, there was published the fol- 
lowing appeal : ^°^ 



APPENDIX B 351 



From 

The Land of the Free 

and the Home of the Brave, 
far down in South Africa, comes no wailing, comes no cry 
for help or assistance. 

Yet in 

The Land of the Free 

and the Plome of the Brave, 
in the western hemisphere, we hear by the mysterious elec- 
tric fluid the reverberations of the death-dealing thunder 
of England's mighty liddyte guns, of the incessant crack- 
ling of the never-missing mausers of the Boers. 

Americans, who always loved liberty, who always sym- 
pathised with the oppressed, who always abhorred tyranny, 
more so when under the cloak of hypocrisy, cannot blame 
their co-citizens of Holland origin, if their hearts throb, 
and an enthusiastic joy, strange to their phlegmatic tem- 
perament, makes every nerve thrill, when they see two small 
republics, of the same stock, the same flesh and blood as 
their owm, dare to stand up for freedom and independence 
against the Colossus of our times. 

Never did Spartans, never did Romans in their best 
days, show greater courage, loftier determination to live or 
die free men, than did the three hundred thousand Trans- 
vaalers and Free Staters, when they took up the gauntlet 
of perfidious Albion with its more than 300 million sub- 
jects ! 

And our sympathy goes out to the manly Americans 
who blushing say: "This is the first time in our history, 
that our government stands listlessly by, when a big bully 
tries to choke freedom and tramples on a weaker nation; 
this is the first time that our administration stands as Saul, 



352 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

guarding the clothes of those that stoned Stephen and ap- 
proving their deed. ' ' 

Yes, we sympathise with them, and the world will not 
hold them responsible for the acts and sympathies of a 
president and his cabinet, who departed from the old and 
glorious traditions, that made America the guiding star of 
the lovers of freedom, the hope of the oppressed. 

Therefore we, your Holland co-citizens, call on all you 
that love freedom, that detest the oppression of the weak 
by the strong and say to you : ' ' Those little republics have 
found the bottom of their treasury; the London money- 
market will not give them credit; they will have thousands 
of maimed and crippled for life, thousands of widows and 
orphans. They have not the unbounded credit of our na- 
tion, not the immense resources of the first republic that 
wrested her freedom from England's grasp, and yet those 
thousands must be cared for, may not — by God Almighty 's 
help — be beggars and outcasts. ' ' 

Holland and Belgium, France and Germany, and even 
Russia are collecting funds for the Red Cross and for kin- 
dred purposes. 

Shall Americans stand idly by, shall we be niggards, 
shall we, to please our friend, the grasping, grinding, 
greedy Briton, refuse to lend our aid to heroes whose su- 
periors the Avorld did never see? 

God forbid! 

Therefore we, your Holland co-citizens, remembering 
how magnanimously you came to the rescue when want and 
famine reigned in Russia or India, ask you to contribute 
something for the heroic Transvaalers and Free Staters 
for their widows and their orphans. 

The mite of the poorest is as welcome as the greater 
gifts of the rich. 



APPENDIX B 353 



Therefore we wish to give all those that sympathise with 
the Boers occasion to donate something for : 

The crippled, the widows and orphans of the Transvaal 
and Orange Free State. 

The undersigned have formed a committee to receive 
the money, collected in this way, and will send same to the 
representative of the Transvaal, residing in Brussels, and 
send his receipts to the different papers who may send us 
their contribution. 

Not doubting a generous response, we are, respectfully, 

Hon. H. Hospers, State Senator, Orange City, Pres. 

M. P. van Oosterhout, Ed. Be Vrije Hollander, Orange 
City, Sec. 

Hon. A. W. van Wagenen, Ex-District Judge, Sioux 
City. 

John Nollen, Cashier First National Bank, Pella. 

J. H. Stubenrauch, Pella. 

P. D. van Oosterhout, County Attorney, Orange City. 
Orange City, Iowa, November 27, 1899. 

The Hollanders gave way to unbounded excite- 
ment and pleasure when news of Boer successes 
reached them. At Pella the Dutch newspapers pub- 
lished all the latest despatches from the front, and 
the post-office was kept open until a late hour at 
night so that citizens might get mail brought by the 
last evening trains. Ministers spoke at all the Boer 
meetings in the neighborhood. Pella' s Nieuivshlad 
posted bulletins. Everywhere the Hollanders in 
Iowa welcomed the reports of British disasters : al- 
though they could not expect a handful of people to 
prevail against such overwhelming odds, the Hoi- 



354 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

landers rejoiced in months of British reverses and 
wished English armies nothing bnt confusion.^"^® 

The Sioux City Journal made the sensational an- 
nouncement that the business men of Alton, Maurice, 
Ireton, Le Mars, and Fort Dodge had collected 
$25,000 to send two companies of fifty men each to 
the Transvaal to help the Boers, provided -the Fed- 
eral authorities could be outwitted. It was reported 
that this filibustering party had been organized under 
the command of a member of the First Regiment of 
Illinois Volunteers and of veterans of the Cuban 
and Philippine war: and that the men drilled after 
dark outside the town of Orange City. 

Equally untrue statements appeared in corre- 
spondence from Sioux Center to the Chicago Times- 
Herald published under the following headlines : ^^A 
Whole Regiment. Hundreds Leave Sioux County 
for the Transvaal to Help the Boers.'''' It was re- 
ported that these adventurers intended to proceed 
to the field of war by threes and fours by various 
routes in order to escape the vigilance of the United 
States authorities. The fact that numerous young 
men who had talked of serving in the Boer army 
disappeared suddenly without leaving word behind 
lent color to the rumor that they had started on 
the journey: their relatives, it was said, felt no un- 
easiness at their absence, which obviously would not 
be the case if they were ignorant of all the facts.^°® 

Money poured into the treasury of the Iowa 
Transvaal Committee from the Hollanders of Minne- 
sota, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and from all the Dutch 



APPENDIX B 355 



communities in Iowa, as well as from such towns as 
Sioux City and Iowa City. Governor John Lind of 
Minnesota sent $10, together with a letter in which 
he declared that the war was due principally to Cecil 
Ehodes's press bureau, his tremendous capital, 
powerful influence, etc. Within four months the 
Committee forwarded $1,000 to Dr. Leyds at Brus- 
sels and $300 to Amsterdam.^^° 

Merchants among the Hollanders advertised 
' * Transvaal Days " to be held in their stores : for 
several weeks a druggist whose advertisement in 
large type began with ' ' Hoera voor Transvaal ! ' ' 
promised to donate 5% of his sales on Saturdays to 
the Boer cause. All good Hollanders wore ''Com 
Paul" buttons on their coat lapels, and many a child 
born during those stirring months was named after 
Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert, Piet Cronje and other 
Boer generals.^" 

On the 2nd day of January, 1900, the following- 
resolutions were spread upon the minutes of the city 
council of Pella : 

Whereas, The cause of human liberty, as exemplified 
by those who are now so valiantly defending their homes in 
the sister republics in South Africa is one that appeals 
strongly to American citizens, who wrested the precious 
boon of self-government from the self same ruthless in- 
vaders, and who now attempt to assimilate the inhabitants 
of those countries, therefore, 

Resolved, That we believe the cause of the Transvaal 
and Orange Free State to be one of justice and right as 
against the encroachment of the avaricious British intruder. 



356 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

We heartily rejoice in the success which has so far crowned 
the efforts of its defenders, and we sincerely hope and trust 
that with the help from on High complete victory may fol- 
low% and that the soil of South Africa may soon become too 
hot for the oppressor and that in humiliation and disgrace 
he may be driven hence. 

Resolved, That we acknowledge with unbounded satis- 
faction and delight the course Senator ]\Iason of Illinois has 
pursued, in his eloquent pleading in a speech before the 
Senate of the United States in favor of the righteous cause 
of the Boers, and we urge him to continue the good work, 
and thus assist in developing a hearty and intelligent senti- 
ment in regard to this important question of public policy 
and the attitude that the United States should pursue in 
the premises. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded 
to Presidents Kruger and Steyn, Hon. W. E. Mason and 
our Senators and Representatives in Congress and to such 
others as may be deemed necessary. 

On motion of Mr. Reuvers to adopt said Resolution a 
roll call was ordered which resulted as follows : Reavers, 
van der Sluis, Maasdam, van Zante, van Nimwegen, Worm- 
houdt and Kruger voted aye (7), Fisk being absent. 

A few days later similar resolutions were adopt- 
ed hj the city council of Orange City as follows :^^^ 

Whereas the South African Republics. Transvaal and 
Orange Free State, have been forced into a war of self de- 
fence and for their A^ery existence by the English Colonial 
Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, backed by some of the large 
capitalists of England, who wish to obtain complete control 
of these small States in order to take from them their min- 
eral wealth, their liberty and government by fair means or 
foul, and as we firmly believe without the support of a 



APPENDIX B 357 



large number of honest, liberty-loving Englishmen at home 
and abroad, and against their earnest protest; and, 

Whereas the action now taken by the English govern- 
ment is like the action taken by George the Third against 
the New England colonies a hundred and twenty-five years 
ago, with this aggravation thereto that the present South 
African war is a war of conquest against independent for- 
eign States, to crush out from them the last spark of 
equality, liberty, and self-government, while in this country 
it was a colony in fact which she sought thus to crush; 
therefore, 

Resolved, that we American citizens of Orange City, 
Iowa, believe in the justice of the cause of the Boers in this 
war against the money, greed, and ruthless grasp for addi- 
tional territory on the part of Great Britain, and it is our 
hearty wish that the victories now achieved by the Boers 
may be followed by more and greater victories, until the 
English armies shall be hurled from the soil of South 
Africa and complete independence and self-government on 
the basis of equal rights to all men be established there. 

Resolved, that we heartily endorse the actions of so 
many of our prominent newspapers in the United States, 
of so many benevolent societies, of so many of our United 
States Senators, Representatives and other prominent men, 
and so many of the City Councils in prominent Cities in so 
boldly expressing their convictions of the justice of the 
cause of the Boers and their endeavor to obtain such action 
as shall cause the United States to tender its good offices in 
the cause of a just and impartial peace and thus prevent 
the ruthless shedding of more blood. 

Resolved, that we heartily endorse the action of many 
American communities in their collection of funds for the 
widows and orphans of Boer soldiers who are killed or 



358 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

maimed in battle, and to defray the expense of Red Cross 
nurses to care for the sick and wounded, and hope that such 
acts of benevolence will continue until an honorable peace 
has been agreed upon. 

Resolved, that we finnly believe that as American citi- 
zens it is our duty to protest against all encroachments on 
personal liberty wherever such may be done the world over, 
until tyranny shall be stamped out and the people of all 
countries enjoy the rights of universal suffrage wherever 
they are capable of self-government. 

Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be fonvarded 
to His Excellency President "Wm. McKinley, and to our 
Senators and Representatives in Congress and to Presi- 
dents Kruger and Steyn. 

A. Bolks, Mayor. 

A. van der Meide, Clerk. 

On the 22nd of January, 1900, the Sioux County 
member introduced into the State House of Repre- 
sentatives the following resolution : 

That the members of the House sympathize with the 
Boers in South Africa in their struggle for freedom and 
independence; that their brave stand for their rights en- 
titles them to the respect of the civilized world, and that we 
trust the President may find a way to tender the good offices 
of the United States to aid in bringing about peace. 

By a vote of 57 to 22 this resolution was laid on 
the table. The Democratic editor of De Vrije Hol- 
lander thanked the six Republicans who favored the 
resolution, three of them representing large Dutch 
constituencies in the counties of Sioux, Marion, and 
Grundy. ^^^ 

Mass meetings were frequently called at Pella, 



APPENDIX B 359 



Otley, and Sully, and at Orange City, Sioux Center, 
Maurice, Alton, Rock Valley, and other towns in the 
vicinity. Hollanders also spoke at meetings in Le 
Mars and Sioux City. All these gatherings ended 
with generous donations for the Boers. Much money 
was collected also through the churches and by means 
of concerts and subscription lists which were carried 
from house to house. In August, 1900, three young 
men from Sioux County — A. Kline, H. Dekker, and 
M. te Veltrup — were thus enabled to enlist in the 
Boer armies : they fought until the Boers were over- 
whelmed.^^^ 

In the summer of 1900 C. H. Wessels, President 
of the Orange Free State Volksraad, passed through 
Alton where the Transvaal and Orange Free State 
flags were flying at the railroad station. A large 
crowd of Hollanders from all the neighboring towns 
greeted him with loud hurrahs for the Transvaal and 
listened to his address in the Dutch language. The 
Boer representatives who accompanied him were A. 
D. W. Wolmarens and A. Fisscher.^^^ 

De Vrije Hollander at Orange City and Bella's 
Nieuwshlad never ceased their violent attacks upon 
McKinley for his "murder and robbery policy" and 
his failure to aid the Boers. Republican and Demo- 
cratic rallies in the autumn of 1900 assumed addition- 
al importance among the Hollanders — the Demo- 
crats even obtained speakers in the Dutch language. 
William J. Bryan gained manj^ votes as a conse- 
quence,"^ 

Money continued to be collected in every possible 



360 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

way during the year 1901: at Pella the Moonlight 
Mission Band of the First Reformed church held 
socials. In Sioux County at the Christian celebra- 
tion of the Fourth of July a large sum was con- 
tributed for the Boers. Shortly afterward H. D. Vil- 
joen, Field Cornet, and Commandant Liebenberg 
were commended to the good-will of the people of 
Iowa by the proclamation of Governor Shaw. These 
two men who had fought in the war put up a large 
tent wherever they stopped, delivered addresses on 
the Boers and their land, attracted great crowds in 
all the Dutch communities at an admission price of 
twenty-five cents, and raised about $1,000 for Boer 
orphans and widows. ^'^ 

In the month of October, 1901, Rev. van Broek- 
huizen spoke in nearly all the Dutch churches of 
Iowa : he raised $560 in two meetings at Pella, $530 
at Orange City, $350 at Sioux Center, over $200 at 
Hull, and about $500 at Middelburg, Maurice, Boy- 
den, Rock Valley, and Hospers.^^^ A program of one 
of these gatherings runs as follows : 
Psalm 68 — one stanza 
Prayer — Rev. J. Keizer 
Introduction of Rev. van Broekhuizen by President of 

Transvaal League — J. H. Stubenrauch 
Speech — Rev. van Broekhuizen 
Collection recommended — Rev. E. Troost 
Collection and Psalm 68 — second and third stanzas 
Thanks and Benediction — Rev. Niemeyer 

About this time also the hearts of Hollanders 
were filled with indignation by the exaggerated re- 



APPENDIX B 361 



ports of terrible sulf ering in the reconcentrado camps 
maintained by the English in South Africa. Presi- 
dent McKinley was asked in a long petition to use 
his influence to stop the system. Later Be Vrije Hol- 
lander displayed the picture of a child in the last 
stage of starvation in one of Kitchener's camps. 
Ministers of the gospel met at Newkirk in Sioux 
County and drew up a petition to the congressmen 
from Iowa asking them to protest in the name of 
Christianity, civilization, and humanity against the 
judicial murder of Commander Kritzinger or other 
Boer officers who might be captured, and also to use 
all their influence with the American government to 
protest against the cruelty and inhumanity of the re- 
concentrado camps where the death rate, according 
to official statistics, ranged from forty to fifty deaths 
per one hundred each year.^^^ 

Late in the year 1901 came the call for money and 
clothing for Boer war prisoners on the Bermuda 
Islands. The Iowa Transvaal Committee sent over 
one dozen large boxes of clothing besides money for 
the prisoners, the Ladies' Aid Societies of the 
churches doing especially good work. Wheu De 
Vrije Hollander published a letter from a friend on 
the Bermudas to the effect that all they needed was 
tobacco, money was at once forthcoming and tobacco 
was supplied to them.^-° 

Bella's Weekhlad discovered political capital in 
the favor which Roosevelt was alleged to show to- 
wards the English: did he not allow Englishmen to 
buy horses in America for the war? During these 



362 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

months, indeed, it was well-nigh impossible to buy 
horses and mules from the Hollanders of Iowa : they 
regarded every horse-dealer with suspicion, for how 
should they know but that their animals might be 
wanted for shipment to the English armies t ^-^ 

As late as September, 1902, in answer to the final 
appeal of the Iowa Transvaal Committee, money was 
pouring in. Although no account of sums collected 
and despatched can be obtained, it is confidently be- 
lieved that the Hollanders of Iowa gave to the Boers 
over $10,000 of their wealth, besides clothing and 
three volunteers.^" And among the most powerful 
promoters of the Boer cause were the two Dutch 
newspapers Bella's Weekblad and De Vrije Hol- 
lander, while no single man exerted himself so cease- 
lesslv as did Martin P. van Oosterhout. 



APPENDIX C 

The Dutch Language 

One of the striking features of life in the Dutch 
communities of Iowa is the sound of nearly all the 
dialects of modern Holland. Listening to a conver- 
sation between two natives from such a province as 
Gelderland or Groningen or Drenthe provokes as 
many smiles as a funny farce. The people of Fries- 
land, however, use a language of their own — in- 
deed, their everyday speech resembles English very 
much, although their printed language is practically 
unintelligible to the ordinary philologist. 

The use of so many broad dialects and the adop- 
tion of innumerable Americanisms has of course 
detracted not a little from the purity of the Dutch 
language in Iowa. Formal instruction in the mother 
tongue has never been seriously attempted except in 
private night-schools which have frequently been 
organized in most of the Dutch communities. The 
survival of the language, however, is none the less re- 
markable. 

Dutch newspapers, Dutch church services, and 
Dutch literature such as the Bible and Sunday-school 
weeklies have kept the language alive, as has the con- 
tinuing immigration from the fatherland. Holland- 
ers who have reached the age of maturity care little 

363 



364 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

to acquire a knowledge of the English language, for 
it is unnecessary where Dutch is understood in all 
the affairs of life whether in the country or in the 
towns. 

Children of Dutch parentage, therefore, learn 
the mother dialect at home and English from their 
play-mates — they soon speak English almost ex- 
clusively among themselves, and onlj^ converse with 
their parents in Dutch. At a very early age children 
of one family are forced to use English when they 
can not make themselves understood in dialect to 
children of another family. Children who learned 
'^Friesch" or ''Geldersch" at home find themselves 
unable to converse with persons who have a com- 
mand of other dialects or pure Dutch, and so the 
prevalence of dialects in the Dutch communities of 
Iowa has come to be respousible for the use of a com- 
mon language — • English. 

American-born and immigrant children have, of 
course, always attended the common schools of their 
localities — they grow up with the English language. 
It may be well for the painstaking, careful student 
to have a familiar acquaintance with two or more 
languages — each one imparts to the student some 
advantage or virtue which enriches his knowledge of 
the others. But the child of Dutch parentage who is 
reared in the atmosphere of two languages expe- 
riences the utmost difficulty in acquiring real fluency 
in either. Familiarity with two languages is a fine 
asset, but it has some drawbacks, especially when one 
limits or interferes with expression in the other. 



APPENDIX C 365 



American teachers in the schools of Dutch com- 
munities have discovered an element of humor in the 
situation: children from Dutch families innocently 
translate Dutch words and idioms which result often- 
times in the most ludicrous English. Teachers of 
rhetoric and composition have much cause to smile 
at the astounding literary productions of their pu- 
pils: they have the best reason to believe that a 
knowledge of Dutch is a handicap which prevents the 
acquisition of good English. But spoken and writ- 
ten English continues to improve with each succeed- 
ing generation. 

Many old-fashioned, conservative Hollanders de- 
plore the fact that their mother tongue is gradually 
falling into disuse, although they feel that Dutch will 
not entirely disappear as long as fresh accessions of 
Hollanders from Europe continue "to leaven the 
loaf". Not long ago people met at Pella to organize 
a society, "De Nederlansche Bond": they wished to 
strengthen the bond between Holland and the United 
States, to study the influence of Holland on American 
development, to translate and spread Dutch books, 
to establish libraries of Dutch books, to organize 
clubs for the study of the literature, history, and law 
of Holland, and to introduce into high schools in- 
struction in these subjects. 

Despite expressions of grief and exhortations to 
cling to the tongue of their fathers, Hollanders admit 
that English is slowly but irresistibly undermining 
the place of the Dutch language in the everyday con- 
cerns of business life. English supplants Dutch first 



366 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

in the school, then on the street, then in the family, 
and lastly in newspapers and churches. That lan- 
guage which is most widely useful will prevail. As 
one Hollander expressed it : " The English conquest 
in this respect (who can deny it) is a natural and by 
no means violent one, quite different from that of 
other days revealed by history." ^^^ 



NOTES AND EEFEEENCES 



/ 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 

CHAPTEK I 

^ Much has been written in praise of the Dutch nation 
and the Hollanders. Perhaps no more bombastic appre- 
ciation of Dutch institutions has ever appeared in such at- 
tractive form as Douglas Campbell's TUe Puritan in Hol- 
land, England and America. As for the critical value of 
this ingenious two-volume work it is sufficient to refer the 
reader to Chapter IX of The Evolution of the Constitution 
of the United States, which Sydney G. Fisher has devoted 
to a very searching analysis and thorough criticism of 
Campbell's claims. 

On the other hand, while the Dutch in America have 
been largely free from disparagement and abuse they have 
not been altogether secure from the ridicule and misrepre- 
sentations of a school of writers, whose archetype is Wash- 
ington Irving. Mr. Fisher, too, likes that style in Men, 
Women and Manners in Colonial Times. 

' ' The funny fellows, both penmen and artists, who saw 
American Dutchmen a century or two after New Nether- 
land had passed away, and who have essayed to write or 
picture the history of New Amsterdam, give us the impres- 
sion that most of the Dutch colonists were old and fat, 
stupid, choleric, and lazy, and lived in a cloud of tobacco 
smoke. Thus these caricaturists cast a glow more humorous 
than luminous over the early history of the State of New 
York." — Grififis' The Story of New Netherland, p. 49. 

A recent reviewer of Mrs. Van Rensselaer's History of 

369 



370 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

the City of New York declares that many writers show a 
disposition "to ignore the work-day character of the New 
Netherland colonists, and to try rather to invest them with 
an atmosphere of quaintness and with fanciful surround- 
ings. " — The American Historical Revieiv, Vol. XV, p. 156. 

^ In 1620 the States-General of the Dutch Republic had 
refused to supply two ships of war to protect emigrants on 
their way to New Netherland. An English preacher had 
assured the West India Company that he had "the means 
of inducing over four hundred families to accompany him 
thither", both out of Holland and England, to plant there 
a new Commonwealth. — See Docuraents Relative to the 
Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 22-24. 

^ ' ' Neither legitimate trade nor colonization was neces- 
sarily the first idea with 'John Company'. War, devasta- 
tion of the Spanish possessions, capture of silver and gold, 
and traffic in slaves were their primal objects. . . . On 
the seas, and in the West Indies and South America, this cor- 
poration secured its loot and made its greatest conquests. 
New Netherland was only a by-product. Indeed, if this 
northern colony had not been at first looked upon chiefly 
as a station on the way home from Brazil and the Caribbean 
Sea it might never have started." — Griffis' The Story of 
New Netherland, p. 139. See also Documents Relative to 
the Colonial History of the State of New York, Vol. T, pp. 
39, 42, 67. 

* Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the 
State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 40, 65. 

° 'Callaghan in his History of Netv Netherland, Vol. 
I, p. 178, sketches a New Netherland which might have 
arisen if the Company's directors had filled the land, "as 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 371 

the English were doing, with thousands of moral, hardy 
pioneers; had they transported cattle, and encouraged the 
planting of towns and villages in the wilderness, instead of 
building solitary forts to serve as a rendezvous for lazy In- 
dians and a few isolated traders". 

° Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the 
State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 106, 107. 

In Dunlap's History of the New Netherlands, Vol. I, p. 
57, we read that in 1638 when Kieft arrived, "it is recorded 
in the secretary of state's office at Albany, that fort Am- 
sterdam in the city of New Amsterdam was in a state of 
decay and dilapidation ; many farms belonging to the com- 
pany were without tenants or cultivation, and thrown into 
common ; the trading vessels, with only one exception, were 
in bad condition; the houses were out of repair". 

^ Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the 
State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 149-151, 181. 

^Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the 
State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 135, 136, 140, 141, 155, 182. 
At this time the West India Company again offers a char- 
acteristic complaint to the States-General: "Jointly and 
individually, we sensibly feel in the inmost recesses of our 
hearts, the miserable and desolate condition of the poor 
people there, the rather as we find ourselves in such in- 
ability that we not only cannot supply the requisite means 
to bring this Colony, which is a source of so much expense 
for the West India Company, to such a state that we might 
in time realize the long looked for fruits thereof". 

^ Documents Relative to the Coloriial History of the 
State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 152-154, 161, 251, 259-270, 
275-318, 374, 375. In April, 1648, it was asserted that the 



372 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

country lay prostrate, settlers were hunted, lands laid 
waste, bouweries and plantations to the number of fifty or 
sixty burnt and laid in ashes, ' ' and what is worst of all, the 
Dutch name is through those cruel acts, despised to a most 
sovereign degree, by the Heathens of those parts". Even 
then it was prophesied that the English, who had grown to 
be about 60,000 strong, would in time take the country. 

^** Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the 
State of New York, Vol. I, pp. 619, 630-634, 637. 

" Griffis' The Story of Neio Netherland, p. 127. 

^- There is authority for the statement that hundreds 
of the better class of Dutch withdrew from New York, re- 
turning to Holland or settling in the West and East Indies, 
not a few going to Virginia and the Carolinas. — Griffis' 
The Story of New Netherland, p. 148. 

^^ See Roosevelt's History of New York, pp. 48, 58 ; and 
Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of 
New York. Vol. II. pp. 512, 526, where the number was esti- 
mated at 8000 in 1667 and at from 6000 to 7000 in 1673. 

^*Cheyney's European Background of American His- 
tory, pp. 186, 187. 

^^ "Writers of English origin and apologists for Eng- 
lish aggression are continually endeavoring to gloss over 
the English usurpation of New Netherland by disseminating 
the fiction that the New Netherlanders were so tired of their 
own government that they welcomed English rule. The 
New Netherlanders loved to quarrel with their governors 
and to accuse them of various misdeeds, as all oppositions 
will do, but this did not imply a predilection for English 
rule." — The American Historical Review, Vol. XV, p. 394. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 373 

The latest English opinion of the Dutch in America is 
a part of a psychological study of the American nation. 
The author writes: "The civilization of the Dutch suc- 
cumbed before a more virile race, a race endowed with a 
peculiar genius to govern and leave its ineffaceable mark. 
All that the Dutch brought to America — language, cus- 
toms, political principles — has been overlaid by the speech 
and institutions and political philosophy of the Eng- 
lish. . . . Search as we may, we can find no trace of the 
Dutch strain or that the Dutch left any indesinent impress 
upon the American character or were able to modify a con- 
quering race or impose upon it their own civilization. ' ' — 
Low's Tlie American People, pp. 378 and 389. 

Elsewhere the same author declares: "No people who 
have played a part in affecting the destinies of mankind — 
and that the Dutch did, no one who is familiar with their 
history or that of Europe in the sixteenth century will 
deny — offer such a curious and puzzling study. . . . And 
yet virile, industrious, undegenerate — and those qualities 
make the mystery all the greater — they have influenced 
the world so little." — The American People, p. 392. 

Despite the fact that many Dutch geographical names 
have been erased from the map, chiefly by the English (as 
in the case of New Netherland and New Holland, which is 
now called Australia, though the name New Zealand has 
been preserved), Holland has been the only one among deca- 
dent states able to retain control of populous colonial pos- 
sessions. Her colonies rank fourth in extent and third in 
population, although a very small percentage of the colo- 
nials is Dutch : it is estimated that the European element in 
the 25,000,000 people on the island of Java does not exceed 
50,000 souls. Wherever the Dutch colonists have by their 
industry accomplished the greatest results, the English have 



374 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

been able to establish their political domination. This was 
the case in America, and also recently in South Africa, 
where the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and Cape Colony, 
still very largely Dutch, are now parts of the British Em- 
pire. 

"In view of the overwhelming preponderance of Great 
Britain it is remarkable how Holland has not merely pre- 
served, but extended its possessions ; without them it would 
be an insignificant, feeble member in the family of Europe ; 
with them its power is much more substantial and far- 
reaching than many of the larger empires. The Dutch, 
with a small army of a few thousand men, govern thirty- 
five million people ; their ships ply in every sea, their mer- 
chants frequent every market, and their products are re- 
quired in every household." — Morris' The History of 
Colonization, Vol. I, pp. 355-359. See also Dunlap's His- 
tory of the Neiv Netherlands, Vol. I, pp. 40, 41. 

CHAPTER II 

^^ Grififis in The Story of New Netherland, p. 48, believes 
the history of the Reformed Church in America to be all- 
important ' ' because the highest Dutch social life was closely 
associated with the Church, and was from the first found in 
its largest and fullest form in the congregations. The 
Church nourished a spirit of democracy, besides maintain- 
ing the schools and culture after the English conquered 
New Netherland and the royal governors abolished the pub- 
lic schools. . . . The Reformed Dutch Church was the 
seedbed for the sprouting of American and Continental, as 
opposed to aristocratic British notions. The language, cus- 
toms, traditions, and best inheritances of Patria lingered 
longest, and are to-day found most notably in the Reformed 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 375 

churches in the East and West of our country. When New 
Netherland ceased to be, the Dutch Church and people still 
remained a potent element in the making of the American 
man and the world's grandest political structure." 

See also The Story of New Netherland, p. 264 ; and Cor- 
win's Manual of the Reformed Church in America, Fourth 
Edition, p. 45. On p. 132 of the latter work the reader will 
find that this Church was called "Reformed Dutch" or 
' ' Reformed Protestant Dutch ' ' until the name was changed 
in 1867, after a somewhat heated discussion, to "Reformed 
Church in America". The writer, however, has taken the 
liberty to use the name given in the text. 

^^ Low's The American People, pp. 378, 379. 

^^Corwin's Manual, pp. 42-44, 116, 126, 131; and 
Griffis' The Story of Neiv Netherland, pp. 249, 251. 

13 Corwin's Manual, pp. 45-47, 99, 143, 162. 

2° Corwin's Manual, pp. 1073-1082, where can be found 
a chronological list of the congregations of the Reformed 
Church in America, 1628-1902. See also Griffis' The Story 
of New Netherland, p. 265. 

Professor Albert B. Faust has calculated that the six 
thousand original Dutch settlers of New York (a conserva- 
tive estimate in 1673), doubling their number every twenty- 
three years, would make about 200,000 Dutch descendants 
in 1790. To this number he has added about 40,000 Dutch 
for other States in 1790. Figuring that the population of 
1790 increased about ten and one-half times until 1900, 
Professor Faust concludes that the American-born descend- 
ants of the early Dutch immigrants numbered about 2,520,- 
000 in 1900. — Faust's The German Element in the United 
States, Vol. II, pp. 16-18. 



■•> 



376 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

^^ United States Summary of Commerce and Finance, 
June, 1903, p. 4339. The exact figures on Dutch immigra- 
tion by decades are as follows : 1841-1850 — 8251 ; 1851- 
1860 — 10,789; 1861-1870 — 9102; 1871-1880 — 16,541; 
1881-1890 — 53,701; 1891-1895 — 25,812; 1896-1900 — 
6004 ; 1901-1902 — 4633. During the years 1821-1902 Euro- 
pean nations contributed to our population in the order 
named: Germany, Ireland, England, Italy, Norway and 
Sweden, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Poland, France, 
Scotland, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland, Spain and Por- 
tugal, and Belgium. 

^- United States Summary of Commerce and Finance, 
June, 1903, pp. 4375-4399. In 1900 the following States 
contained more than one thousand foreign-born Dutch: 
Michigan, 30,406; Illinois, 21,916; New Jersey. 10,261; 
New York, 9414; Iowa, 9388; Wisconsin, 6496; Minnesota, 
2717 ; Ohio, 1719 ; Indiana, 1678 ; South Dakota, 1566 ; and 
California. 1015. The foreign-born Dutch in the United 
States in 1900 numbered 104,931, of whom 2608 and 18,555 
lived in New York City and Chicago, respectively. 

^^ Minutes of the General Synod of the Reformed 
Church in America, June, 1910, pp. 778-817; and consult 
also the Yearbook of the Christian Beformed Church in 
America, 1910, pp. 33-45. 

The fact that the language of the pulpit in the West is 
mainly Dutch and almost entirely English in the East is 
explained by the comparative youthfulness of the western 
settlements and the continual accessions of fresh immi- 
grants from Holland. 

The futility of attempting to compute the number of 
Dutch and their descendants in the United States is ob- 
vious. The Christian Reformed Church claims a member- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 377 

ship of 14,031 families or of 78,427 persons. Computing on 
the same basis, the Reformed Church would have for its 
63,364 families 348,502 persons, making a total of 426,929 
people for the two Churches. But the membership of con- 
gregations in the East is not exclusively Dutch. Further- 
more, it is difficult to estimate the number of Dutch who 
are Roman Catholics or non-church members, or the number 
of descendants of the original Dutch settlers of the seven- 
teenth century. 

In A Century of Population Groivth in the United 
States, 1790-1900, published by the United States Census 
Bureau, Chapter XI is devoted to "nationality as indicated 
by the heads of families reported at the first census": the 
number of Hollanders is estimated at about 79,000 (50,600 
in New York and 21,581 in New Jersey), and if their de- 
scendants maintained the same proportion to the native- 
born population, they would have numbered 875,000 in 
1900. This estimate seems sounder than that of Professor 
Faust, mentioned in footnote 20. Adding the descendants 
of Hollanders who immigrated to America from 1790 to 
1900, and 250,000 is a low estimate, and also all persons of 
Dutch parentage in 1900 (estimated by Professor Faust at 
283,764), the people of Dutch ancestry and Dutch birth in 
the United States probably numbered about 1,400,000 in 
1900. 

CHAPTEE TTI 

'* In the writing of this chapter the author has drawn 
upon the following sources, all in the Dutch language : De 
Afscheiding: Een GedenliscJirift {The Separation: A Me- 
moir), by John Nollen, an excellent brochure written fifty 
years after the settlement of Pella; and Landverhuizing, 
of Waarom Bevorderen Wij de Volksverhuizing en wel naar 
Noord-Amcrika en niet naar Java, {Emigration, or Why 



378 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

We Encourage People to Emigrate to North America and 
not to Java), by A. Brummelkamp and A. C. van Raalte, 
1846. The latter interesting pamphlet contains a letter to 
the people of Holland, a letter to the Christians of the 
United States, and letters of Hollanders who had been in 
the United States for the past two years. The author has 
also consulted Geschiedenis van Pella, Iowa, en Omgeving 
{The History of Pella, Iowa, and Vicinity), by K. van 
Stigt, in three parts, consisting of 391 pages. 

-^ Young men chose the ministry as they would have 
chosen law or medicine, and candidates for the ministry 
had to subscribe to a very loose and ambiguous formula. 
See Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 9-12; and Corwin's Man- 
ual, pp. 12, 13, 137. 

^® Their organization being based on the creed and 
church regulations of Dort, the Separatists looked upon 
themselves as the original Netherlands Reformed Church 
and their official title was Christian Reformed Church. The 
secession principles were not shared by the aristocratic 
orthodox party in the Church nor by the mass of the clergy, 
who thought more could be done for the ailing Church by 
remaining in it. See van Raalte 's Landverhuizing, p. 33 ; 
and Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 25-29, for details of the 
secession in Holland. 

^^ Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 12. In his Geschiedenis, 
Part I, pp. 6, 7, van Stigt writes: "Living at a time when 
the Dutch Reformed Church had sunk into a state of far- 
reaching decay, Mr. Scholte, by reason of his active and 
fiery temperament, became an instrument of the Lord to 
fan the smouldering embers into a blaze, and with the help 
of other courageous workers in the Lord's vineyard, under 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 379 

God's guidance, he kindled a fire the results of which are 
still perceived and experienced in the Fatherland to-day." 

2^ Article 291 of the Code Napoleon reads as follows: 
"No societies or company of more than twenty persons 
shall be allowed to organize for the purpose of daily or pe- 
riodical gatherings to consider subjects of religion, litera- 
ture, politics, or other matters, without permission of the 
Government and under such terms as local authorities sliall 
deem proper to impose. ' ' 

For details of the persecution, see Nollen's De Afschei- 
ding^ pp. 13-39; van Stigt's GescMedenis, Part I, pp. 8-18, 
72; and van Raalte's Landverhuizing, p. 31. See also an 
article by Mr. Cyrenus Cole, A Bit of Holland in America, 
in The Midland Monthly, A^ol. Ill, pp. 115-117. 

A glance at the table of contents of De Reformatie, a 
periodical of the Christian Reformed Church in The Nether- 
lands published and edited by Rev. Seholte from 1837 until 
he departed for America, shows clearly how the Separatists 
were treated in various provinces. The writer is indebted 
to Mr. A. J. Betten of Orange City, Iowa, for being per- 
mitted to consult his bound volumes of this periodical. Mr, 
H. P. Seholte of Pella, Iowa, also owns a complete set of 
De Reformatie. 

29 Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 30, 35, 37; van Stigt's 
Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 18, 19; and van Raalte's Land- 
verhuizing, pp. 31, 33. Nollen in his excellent memoir 
quotes the words of Rev. Brummelkamp : "At first, when a 
Separatist appeared upon the streets, he was pointed at as 
if he were a being from another world, and urchins mocked 
him or threw mud and stones at him. If anyone joined the 
dissenting Church, he did it knowing that position and 
property, relatives and friends were at stake. 'You are 



380 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

trouble-makers, you incite rebellion, you disobey your su- 
periors.' said most of the inhabitants of The Xetheriands. 
Even friends and relatives, with whom we had walked and 
counselled in peace, kept their distance, so great was their 
slavish subjection to Synodical supremacy. ' ' 

^'^ See van Raalte's Landvcrhuizing, pp. 8. 31, 32; Xol- 
len's De Afscheiding. pp. 38, 39. 

^^ Van Raalte's Landverhuizing. pp. 8. 15, 17, 18, 19, 
21. 35; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 24. 72. 

^- The best account of the economic state of Holland 
can be found in van Raalte's Landverhuizing, pp. 6, 7, 9, 
10, 33, 34. See also van Stigt's Geschiedenis. pp. 23-25, 72; 
XoUen's De Afscheiding, pp. 40-42; and Gedenboek — 
yijftigjang Juiihum der Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk, 
1357-1907, pp. 4, 5. The last named book contains an ex- 
cellent article by Rev. Henry Beets. 

CHAPTER TK 

^^ XoUen's De Afscheiding, pp. 40, 42; and van Raalte's 
Landverhuizing , pp. 20, 33, 34. 

^* Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 23 : and van 
Raalte's Landverhuizing. pp. 16-23, 35. With regard to 
Java, the author of the latter pamphlet wrote as follows: 
"^lay this emigration movement open the Government's 
eyes to granting full liberty in Qixil and ecclesiastical af- 
fairs, both in regard to schools and churches, so that our 
colonies may be rendered accessible to those who wish to go. 
Let an endeavor be made to send thither so many of our in- 
habitants as dare not think of going to America from a lack 
of money to cover travelling expenses. . . . The Grovem- 
ment can easilv advance to them the cost of food on the 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 381 

journey, equipment and first expenses on arrival, while the 
transportation of thousands should be costless, because 
nearly 150 vessels return to Java empty every year. . . . 
Furthermore, just think of converting millions of Javanese 
to Christianity ! But how can the thousands who are ready 
afford to pay the price ? I^et the Government do something 
before it is too late." 

^^Nollen's Be Afscheiding, pp. 40-43. The land which 
satisfied the wishes of the Separatists was then little 
known in Europe : "In those days America appeared to lie 
outside the world, and the journey thither demanded a 
farewell, such as reminded one of a death-bed scene. Emi- 
grants were then still looked upon as moral outcasts : most- 
ly persons who were in bad odor, who had been 'shipped 
away ' by friends and relatives. ' ' 

See especially van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 22- 
2G, which is a transcript from De Beformatie, 1841 ; and 
van Raalte's E^nigration, pp. 16, 35. 

^•^ Van Raalte's Landverhuizing, pp. 14, 24, 37, 42, 43- 
51; Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 40, 41; and The Pella 
Gazette, June 5, 1856. 

CHAPTEK V 

2^ Van Raalte's Landverhuizing, pp. 37, 54, 55. In 
their letter to Christians in North America, van Raalte and 
Brummelkamp appealed for money to help promote the 
emigration of the worthy poor: "In the following month 
[June, 1846] fifty persons, partly members of our congre- 
gations, partly other Christian countrymen, intend to 
journey via New York and the Lakes to Milwaukee, Wis- 
consin, where a few families from the province of Gelder- 
land already live ; while a few others intend to journey down 



382 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

the Ohio to Hollanders in Illinois, later join those in Wis- 
consin, and together to found a colony whither subsequent 
emigrants may go, according as the Lord shall supply us 
means to cover traveling expenses. ' ' 

See also van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 74; Nol- 
len's De Afscheiding, p. 43; and Donnell's Pioneers of 
Marion County, p. 159. 

^^NoUen's De Afscheiding, p. 42. Scholte said of him- 
self: "At an age when man is at the zenith of his power to 
work, with all my God-given wealth and spiritual gifts, I 
can be of use there to my own family and to many of my 
present and also future countrymen : here at home the way 
to that is closed." — Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 24. 

'^Donnell's Pioneers of Marion County, p. 160. The 
number is given on the authority of A. J. Betten, one of the 
first Dutch settlers in Iowa. 

*° The Dissenters were pretty well scattered throughout 
the kingdom, but most of them were to be found in the 
provinces of North Brabant, Gelderland, Overysel, Gronin- 
gen, and Friesland. H. P. Scholte was the leader at 
Utrecht. — See Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 29. 

For all these facts the writer is mainly indebted to van 
Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 75-85, 121. This history 
is especially valuable because it contains the names of all 
Hollanders who came to Iowa in the early years. The names 
of those who comprised the first party are also preserved. 

It is interesting to note that van Raalte with his family 
and forty-seven followers left Rotterdam on the same day as 
the small party which landed at New Orleans, but van 
Raalte disembarked at New York and conducted his party 
to the State of ^Michigan to found what has come to be the 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 383 

largest Dutch settlement in America. — See Nollen's De 
Afscheiding, pp. 42, 43. 

*^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 85, 86. 

*2 Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 43; and van Stigt's 
Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 32. 

*^ For the names of perhaps all of the Dutch emigrants 
upon these vessels see van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 
89-112. This book, pp. 112-114, also contains the names of 
about seventy-five persons who came to America on various 
other ships, and afterwards settled in Iowa. 

** Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 115-121. 
CHAPTEE VI 

*^ This account is contained in a pamphlet of sixty-three 
pages composed and published in 1848, entitled Eene Stem 
uit Pella (A Voice from Pella), and it consists of chapters 
on ''The Preparation", "The Settlement", and "Conclu- 
sion", several appendices, and two small maps. — See the 
writer's translation in The loiva Journal of History and 
Politics, Vol. IX, pp. 528-574. 

A reviewer in The Scottish Historical Beview, Vol. IX, 
p. 217, writes of the pamphlet as follows: "Reading like 
an emigration agent's advertisement with a sermon run- 
ning through it, the paper has the further interest of re- 
flecting contemporary conditions on religious freedom in 
Holland." 

In the first paragraph Scholte writes: "Numerous 
former fellow-countrymen of mine must long ago have ex- 
pected some article from my pen. The reason for my silence 
hitherto lies not in any indifference toward the land of my 
birth ; for during my domicile in the United States of North 



384 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

America I have followed the fortunes of The Netherlands as 
closely as possible. It pained me to hear that afiEairs since 
my departure have been so conducted that the blood of 
citizens had to be poured out, due not to differences with 
foreign potentates but to civil dissensions. Just as little 
must the reason for my silence be sought in dissatisfaction 
springing from my former experiences. With grateful ac- 
knowledgment of God 's good hand over me for the unusual 
honor which has come to me in my new country, I have 
sincerely forgiven the land of my birth for the unjust treat- 
ment meted out to me in various ways. 

"The reason for my silence hitherto is that I did not 
like to trouble my former fellow-countrymen with matters 
which they can read in every book on America, and I did 
not care to tell them facts which in themselves are of 
trifling importance but when colored a little have a certain 
charm for the minds of men. I believe I am well enough 
acquainted with human nature to know how little it takes 
to portray a situation in light wholly different from the real, 
and I am convinced of having so much regard for my fellow- 
men that I do not wish to be instrumental in deluding 
them in any way. ' ' — Scholte 's Eetie Stem nit Pella, pp. 1, 
2, 9, 11. 

*« Scholte 's Ecne Stem uit Pella, pp. 6, 7. 

*^ It is said that besides articles and utensils for house- 
hold use the emigrants brought all sorts of machinery, even 
heavy farm-wagons. "Beans and peas proved to be of most 
value in the following spring." — Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, 
Part I, pp. 121, 122. See also Scholte 's Bene Stem uit 
Pella, pp. 7, 8. 

*^ So far as can be ascertained, memory has not served 
van Stigt well when he writes of "Columbus" and of a 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 385 

railroad as running from Harrisburg to Johnstown. There 
was neither a "Columbus" nor a railroad in 1847. When 
van Stigt asserts that the Hollanders went to Harrisbiirg 
by canal he must have meant "Hollidaysburg" because this 
was the western terminus of the canal from Columbia. 
Furthermore, the easiest and quickest route to Johnstown 
at that time was the natural passage-way afforded by the 
valleys of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers. 

Nollen, in his memoir, p. 48, has repeated van Stigt 's 
account of the itinerary. 

For a discussion of the Pennsylvania Canal and Port- 
age Railway, see Hulbert's Historic Highways, Vol. XIII, 
pp. 184, 200, 208-211, 213, 214. 

*^Van Stigt 's Gescliiedenis, Part I, pp. 122-124; and 
Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 8. 

°° Scholte's Bene Stem uit Pella, pp. 8, 9; and Nollen's 
De Afscheiding, p. 48. 

CHAPTER VII 

^^ This entire chapter is based on Scholte's Eene Stem 
uit Pella, pp. 9-13. See also van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part 
II, p. 2; and Brummelkamp 's Holland in Amerika, p. 11. 

CHAPTER VIII 

^" See van Raalte's letter printed in a pamphlet pub- 
lished by A. Brummelkamp, Holland in Amerika, of De 
Hollandsche Kolonisatie in den Staat Michigan, pp. 8-23. 

" Brummelkamp 's Holland in Amerika, pp. 34, 35 ; and 
Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 5. 

^* Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 3. 



386 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

^^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 32. 
^° Scholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 4, 5, 
" Scholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 2, 3, 14. 

°® In his Pioneers of Marion County, p. 159, Donnell 
writes as follows: "Among other portions of this conti- 
nent at first favorably thought of, was Texas. But after 
obtaining all the information that could be gathered, relat- 
ing to its geography and climate, it was decided to be too 
warm. Missouri was also had in view, but the existence of 
slavery there forbade its choice as a location. Finally Iowa, 
then the youngest sister in the family of states, was chosen 
as the land of refuge." 

Mr. Cole in The Midland Monthly, Vol. Ill, p. 120, 
writes : "While they tarried at St. Louis a committee came 
from Nauvoo, out of which the Mormons had just been 
driven, and offered to sell that city outright. But they had 
come to America to make homes of their own. ' ' 

See also Scholte 's Eene Stem, uit Pella, pp. 8, 9; Nol- 
len's De Afscheiding, p. 48; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, 
Part I, p. 74, where the writer states that Iowa had at- 
tracted attention when the Association was formed at 
Utrecht. 

^^ The right to these lands was settled in 1849 by a 
decision of the Iowa Supreme Court and later affirmed by 
the United States Supreme Court. — See Gue 's History of 
Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 169-172; and Greene's Iowa Reports, Vol. 
II, p. 15. 

60 Ygp Planck van Antwerp was a Knickerbocker by 
birth, received his education at AVest Point Military Acad- 
emy, became a government superintendent on the Cumber- 
land Road, and later Was sent by President Van Buren to 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 387 

Burlington, Iowa, to be Receiver of the Public Moneys. In 
December, 1841, he became an editor of The Iowa Capitol 
Reporter, a democratic newspaper at Iowa City. His ran- 
corous Wliig opponents called him "My Lord Pomposity", 
''West Point dandy", "Our Noble Lord", and "Our Mod- 
em Caesar". See editorials in The Iowa City Standard 
for December, 1841, and an article in the Iowa Historical 
Record, 1891-93, pp. 426-429, where the writer says: "Van 
desired to be popular, was honest and faithful in all the 
trusts of his life, . . . but his style was more amusing 
than popular." 

^^ For the sources consulted in preparing this chapter 
see Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 14-19; van Stigt's 
Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 9-17; and Nollen's De Afscheid- 
ing, pp. 49-51. 

CHAPTEE IX 
®2 Newhall's A Glimpse of Iowa iii 1846, p. v. 

«3 Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 27, 28; Nollen's 
De Afscheiding, p. 51; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part 
II, p. 17. 

*'* Phillips' Mahaska County, p. 239. 

*^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 18, ]9 ; and for 
the main facts of this chapter see Scholte's Eene Stem uit 
Pella, pp. 27, 28. 

CHAPTEE X 

«« Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella. pp. 20, 21. 

^^ Newhall's A Glimpse of Iowa in 1346, pp. 40, 44; and 
Garver's Boundary History of Iowa Counties in The Iowa 
Journal of History and Politics, Vol. VII, pp. 73-75. 



388 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

6« Newhall's A Glimpse of Iowa in 1846, pp. 46-48. 

"''In Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 52, the number of 
acres is placed at 18,000, based on county records. In the 
History of Marion County, Iowa, pp. 331-334, there is a list 
of land sales for the year 1847, and Hendrik Peter Scholte 
and John A. Graham are credited with the purchase of most 
of the land in two townships. They could obtain land only 
in the even-numbered sections because the odd-numbered 
sections had been appropriated for Des Moines River Im- 
provement in 1846 and were not yet on the market. 

^« See Scholte 's Eenc Stem uit Pella, pp. 19, 29. Nollen 
in De Afscheiding, p. 52, says of Scholte: "Because he 
lacked a competent book-keeper, this was the beginning of 
financial difficulties, which afterward led to much friction." 

^^ Scholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 29. This pamphlet 
contains a map which indicates the location of the fanns 
which Scholte bought from the original settlers. 

CHAPTER XT 

■^- Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 26; and Nollen's 
De Afscheiding, p. 51, where the writer explains the mean- 
ing of the biblical name "Pella". See also Scholte 's Eene 
Stem uit Pella, pp. 28, 29. 

"^ See Burlington Ilawkeye, September or October, 
1847, for an article by J. B. Newhall on" A Day in Pella." 
His visit was made on September 17, 1847. 

^* Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 52; van Stigt's Ge- 
schiedenis, Part 11, pp. 20, 21 ; and also pp. 25, 26 of a small 
book published in 1858, entitled De Hollanders in loiva, of 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 389 

Brieven uit Pella, written by a man who signed himself 
"Een Gelderschman", and whose name is still shrouded 
in mystery. For a popular account of sod-houses at Pella, 
see Donnell's Pioneers of Marion County, pp. 161-163. 

^'^ See De Hollanders in Iowa, p. 115; van Stigt's Ge- 
schiedenis, Part II. p. 23 ; and Seholte 's Eene Stem uit 
Pella, pp. 21, 29, 30. 

^® De Hollanders in Iowa, pp. 116, 119. 

" De Hollanders in Iowa, p. 117; and van Stigt's Ge- 
schiedenis, Part II, p. 41. 

''^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II. p. 23 ; and Seholte 's 
Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 20, 22. 

^'^ Seholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 22, 23; and van 
Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 49. 

^^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 48, 53, 54; and 
Seholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 24, 31. 

*^ Seholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 24; and De Hol- 
landers in Iowa, pp. 170-172, 175, 176. 

^' Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 18, 40, 41 ; and 
Seholte 's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 30, 31. 

CHAPTEK XTI 

83 Van Stigt's Geschiedenis. Part II, pp. 23, 46, 47, 48, 
49, 51, 53, 54; Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 53; and History 
of Mario7i County, Iowa, p. 263. 

** Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 53, 54; and van Stigt's 
Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 66-68, 71-73. 



390 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

CHAP TEE Xin 
®^ Seholte's Ecne Stem nit PeUa, p. 34. 

*® For a discussion of the transportation problem see the 
writer's article on The Eoads and Highways of Terntorial 
Iowa in The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. Ill, 
pp. 178, 199-203: van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II. p. 70; 
Laws of Iowa, 1848, p. 47; and Scholte's Eene Stem uit 
Pella, pp. 24, 25. 

®' United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IX. p. 77. 

«» Scholtes Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 21, 25, 26, 27; also 
Scholte's Twcede Stem uit Pella, p. 9, which was written in 
the month of November, 1848 ; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, 
Part II, pp. 49, 50, 51, 74. 75. Amsterdam lav one mile 
south of a village now called Howell Station. In 1860 the 
site of Leerdam was surveyed near the Skunk River north 
of Pella, but the town never got any farther. Des ]\Ioines 
River improvement is still considered feasible. — See The 
Register and Leader (Des Moines), November 29, 1911. 

That Scholte and the Hollanders were intensely inter- 
ested in this project is apparent from his petition to the 
State legislature on the subject. — See House Journal 
(Iowa), 1848, p. 245. 

^^ Annals of loiva. Third Series, Vol. IV, pp. 348, 
349, 355; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II. pp. 68-70, 
76. Mr. H. P. Scholte of Pella doubts whether his father 
had a part in the plank-road scheme, as van Stigt alleges. 

»» Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 20, 26, 27, 58; 
Shambaugh's Iowa City, pp. 110-116; House Journal, 1848, 
p. 245. and 1850. pp. 69, 160; and Senate Journal, 1852, 
p. 97. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 391 

CHAPTER XIY 

^^ Bnimmelkamp 's Holland in Amerika, pp. 13-16. 
Here van Raalte wrote that he would not dare "to plant a 
colony on the prairies, since it demands too much money. 
The expense of importing lumber for the houses and 
barns .... is in general too great for our people ; and 
furthermore the rich farmer may feel at home on the 
prairies, but people trained in other lines of work will feel 
out of place." See also Nollen's De Afscheidhig, p. 46. 

^2 Brummelkamp 's Holland in Amerika, pp. 8, 9. 

^^Scholte's Eene Stem nit Pella, pp. 4, 19, 42, 44-47; 
and Tweede Stem uit Pella, pp. 4, 5. 

»* Seholte's Tweede- St e7n uit Pella, pp. 3, 4, 28, 35. 

»^ Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 50-52, 61. 

CHAPTER XV 

^^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 39 ; and Scholte's 
Eene Stem nit Pella, p. 29. 

^' The voyage of the large number of emigrants in 1849 
lasted from the first of May until the fifteenth of June. On 
board their sailing vessel, Franziska, ten persons died. 
Among the leaders were A. C. Kuyper, Jacob Maasdam. A. 
E. D. Bousquet, and eTohn Hospers. The latter kept a diary 
of the journey from Hoog Blokland to Pella. which his son, 
Nicholas Hospers, kindly lent to the writer. 

In July, 1852, the county judge of Marion County 
made a record of the census. Of 6289 inhabitants in the 
county, Lake Prairie Township had 1301, and of 869 for- 
eign-born persons, the same township had 802. — See His- 
tory of Marion County, Iowa, p. 380. 



392 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 58-65, 71, 77, 84 ; 
and Iowa Historical and Comparative Census, 1836-1880, 
p. 169. 

®® Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 67, 93-109, and 
Part III, pp. 15-29; Census of Iowa, 1856: and The Pella 
Gazette, May 22, 1856. 

Many Hollanders who came to Pella hy way of Keokuk 
during those years well remember the hospitalit}^ of their 
countrymen in that city, among whom was Caesar Obertop. 
This man met incoming steamboats at the wharf, conducted 
immigrants to his home, and if they were poor, helped them 
on their way to Pella. He was a general favorite at Keokuk 
for many years. 

^^ Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part III, pp. 79-93 ; and the 
United States Census, 1870, pp. 340, 353. 354. In 1885 
Jackson County had no foreign-born Dutch at all, so that 
tliere is strong probability that the number returned in 1870 
was a printer's error. See also Donnell's Pioneers of Mar- 
ion County, p. 165. 

CHAPTEK XVI 

^"•'Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 90, 91; and 
De Hollanders in Iowa, pp. 118, 119. 

"1 Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 39, 55, 80, and 
Part III. pp. 10. 42. 

^<'- Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 87. 

^"^ Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 33-37, and 
Part III, pp. 3-7. 

10* De Hollanders in Iowa, pp. 116-142; The Pella Ga- 
zette, April 19. October 18, 1855, and March 15, May 1, 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 393 

1856; van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 45; and Phillips' 
Mahaska Comity, p. 241. 

^"^ Parker's lotua Handbook, pp. 183, 184; Laivs of 
Iowa, 1858, p. 195; van Stigt's Gesckiedenis, Part III, pp. 
55, 56; and The Pella Gazette, May 3, 1855, January 17, 
1856, and January 22, 1857. For Scholte's interest in Des 
Moines River improvement see The Pella Gazette, January 
22, 1857; and for "railroad" meetings to consider the mat- 
ter of voting a county subscription see The Pella Gazette, 
April 30 and May 14, 1857, and Pella's Weekblad, January 
7, July 15, and August 10, 17, and 31, 1871. 

CHAPTER XVII 

^"^ De Hollanders in Iowa, pp. 166, 167 ; and Buddingh's 
De Hervormde Hollandsche Kerk in de Vereenigde Staten 
van Noord-Amerika, p. 159. 

^"'^ House Journal, 1856, p. 25; 1858. pp. 32, 62; 1860, 
pp. 68, 69, 75, 77, 266, 418; 1862, pp. 35, 50, 76; 1864, p. 
60; 1866, p. 30; and 1868, pp. 39, 146, 324. See also The 
Pella Gazette, December 18, 1856, and March 11, 1858, 
where the editor urges that "the State Printer be hurried 
up a little. ' ' 

^°® Shambaugh 's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. I, pp. 430, 459. 

^'^^ Legislative Documents (Iowa), 1861-62; and Laws of 
Iowa, 1860, p. 60. 

The Society for the Protection of Dutch Immigrants at 
New York City was supported by voluntary contributions 
for many years and finally ceased because the Hollanders 
were no longer interested. — See Pella's Weekblad, March 
16, 1869. 



394 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

^^'^ Shambaugli "s Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. Ill, p. 303; Laws of Iowa, 1870, p. 
33; and Legislative Documents (Iowa), 1872, No. 27. 

CHAPTER XVIII 

^^^ De Volksvriend, September 19, 1895, p. 8, where Mr. 
John Nollen signs himself "X"; and De Hollanders in 
Iowa, pp. 166, 167. 

^^- De Volksvriend, September 19. 1895, p. 2. Henry 
Hospers writes on the emigration from Pella to Sioux 
County. See also The Sioux County Herald, July 6, 1876. 

^^^ PeUa's Weekblad, January 5. 19, and February 16, 
1869; and De Volksvriend, July 23, 1871. The committee 
consisted of ^I. van Bennett, K. van Klootwijk. and "W. J. 
Kornegoop. 

^^* See H. J. van der Waa's stor^- in The Alton Demo- 
crat, September 3, 1910. W. S. Harlan, a land-agent at Sac 
City, advertised lands near Storm Lake in Delia's Week- 
blad, January 26. 1869. 

'^^Pella's Weekblad, April 27, 1869. 

^^M'an Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part III, p. 61; De Volks- 
vriend, June 25, 1874, and September 19, 1895; and The 
Alton Democrat, September 3, 1910. 

For the last three paragraphs see pp. 102 and 103 of a 
little volume on Iowa, in the Dutch language, written by Dr. 
A. F. H. de Lespinasse and printed in 1875. 

CHAPTER XIX 

"^ For the facts of this chapter see historical accounts 
in the following newspapers: De ^'olksvriend, June 25. and 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 395 

July 16, 23, 1874, for articles by Pelmulder; and September 
19, 1895, for an account by llospers; and The Alton Demo- 
crat, September 3, 1910. For contemporary Pella events, 
see Pella's WeekUad, February 23. March 9, April 13, 27, 
i\[ay 4, 11, 18, and June 1, 8, 22, 1869. See also Fulton's 
Free Lands in Iowa, pp. 45-47. 

CHAPTER XX 

^^^ Pella's WeekUad, June 29. and July 6. 1869; De 
Volksvriend, July 23, 30, and August 6, 1874; September 
19, 1895; and The Alton Democrat, September 3, 1910. 

For the railroad grant, see United States Statutes at 
Large, May 12, 1864 ; and Laws of Iowa, 1866, p. 143. 

For the homestead and preemption laws see Iowa: The 
Home for Immigrants, published by the Board of Immi- 
gration in 1870, pp. 59-61. 

CHAPTER XXI 

^^^ Sioux County Herald, July 6, 1876; and Pella's 
WeekUad, September 7, and October 5, 1869. Dr. M. Cohen 
Stuart's Zes Maanden in Amerika {Six Months in Ameri- 
ca), Part II, pp. 23, 24, where be describes a journey from 
Le Mars to Orange City in the month of November, 1873. 
For a reprint of his impressions concerning Orange City, 
see De Volksvriend, September 1, 1875. 

^^° See loiva Historical and Comparative Census. 1836- 
1880. pp. 199, 581, 582; and The Sioux County Herald, 
July 6, 1876, where Jelle Pelmulder 's historical sketch is 
printed. 

It is worthy of note that Congress passed a joint reso- 
lution in ]\rarch, 1876, recommending that the people of all 
the States should "assemble in their several counties or 



396 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

towns on the approaching Centennial Anniversary of our 
National Independence" and "have delivered on such day a 
historical sketch of said county or town from its formation ' ' 
to be filed in print or manuscript "in the office of the Li- 
brarian of Congress, to the intent that a complete record 
may thus be obtained of the progress of our institutions 
during the First Centennial of their existence." — Gover- 
nor Kirkwood's proclamation to the people of Iowa, em- 
bodying the recommendation of Congress, in Shambaugh's 
Messages and Proclamations of the Governors of Iowa, Vol. 
IV, pp. 310-313. 

CHAPTEE XXII 

^-^ Fella's Weekhlad, December 25, 1869; and van 
Stigt's GescMedenis, Part III, p. 64. 

^^^ Fella's Weekhlad, April 30, 1870; De Volksvriend, 
September 19, 1895 ; The Alton Democrat, September 3, 
1910; Sioux Center Niciiwshlad, September 7, 1910; and an 
article by A. van der Meide in The Historical Atlas of 
Sioux County. The heads of families are named in The 
Sioux County Herald, July 6, 1876, and in van Stigt's 
GescMedenis, Part III, p. 64. 

^^^ See Rev. James de Pree's interesting article in The 
Historical Atlas of Sioux County. 

^-* See Mr. A. van der Meide 's article mentioned in note 
122 supra; A. J. Betten's article in De Volksvriend, Sep- 
tember 19, 1895; and correspondence to Fella'.<i Weekhlad, 
December 28, 1872. 

^^" The name "Orange" was applied to townships in 
Black Hawk, Guthrie, and Clinton counties before 1858. 
Wherever one finds "Orange" as a geographical name, there 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 397 

is good reason to suspect the presence of Dutchmen, but so 
far as can be ascertained, the Hollanders had nothing to do 
with the naming of the townships abo\^e referred to. — See 
Iowa Historical and Comparative Census, 1836-1880, pp. 
581, 582. 

In 1874 when an organization of Hollanders in the 
Eastern States wrote to Pella asking people to send in tlieir 
contributions for a present to King William II in honor of 
his twenty-five years upon the throne, one Pella citizen 
scorned the idea and wrote : ' ' Don 't come to us ! " Another 
Hollander answered him as follows : ' ' Shame ! Pella people 
could worship as they liked in Holland. See how they broke 
up at Pella and how their Christian school lasted only 
twenty years!" — Bella's Weekhlad, February 20, and 
March 7, 1874. 

^•'^ Pella' s Weekhlad, April 13, and June 8, 1869. The 
name "New Holland" was later changed to "Hope." — 
See Pella's Weekblad, February 19, 1870. 

^-^ For an interesting article, obviously written for ad- 
vertising purposes, see the Iowa State Register, August 10, 
1870. For a series of articles on Orange City see Bella's 
Weekhlad, February 25, March 4, May 20, 27, July 1, 15, 
22, and August 19, 1871. 

^-^ De Volksvriend, September 19, 1895. 

129 -^Qj. statistics on agriculture and population see Cen- 
sus of Iowa, 1873, p. 58. See also Fella's Weekhlad, Sep- 
tember 17, 1870. 

CHAPTEE XXIII 

130 These newspapers were : De Heraut, Hct Nienws 
van den Dag, Provinciale Friesche Courant, De Wehsten, 



398 THE HOLLAXDERS OF IOWA 

De Bazuin, Hensdensche Couranf, Haarlfjnmer Courant, 
and Xieuwe Eofterdamsche Courant. Early in the year 
1870 there had appeared in the Provinciale Friesche Cou- 
rant an article on Sioux County by Jelle Pelmulder. — See 
Pella's Wecl-hlad, April 2. 1870. 

"^ For the complete report of Hospers' journey to 
Europe, see Legislative Documents (Iowa), 1872, Vol. II, 
No. 27. The pamphlet mentioned in the report is entitled : 
"Iowa: the Home for Immigrants'". 

^2- De Volksvriend, October 28. 1875 : loiva Historical 
and Comparative Census, 1836-1880, p. 198; and Pella's 
Weekilad. August 16, 1871, where there is an Orange City 
news item to the effect that numerous families had arrived 
from Alto, "Wisconsin. 

^^^ Dr. Cohen Stuart's remarks were reported in the 
Xieuwe Rotfcrdatyisclie Courant and reprinted in De Volks- 
vriend, July 23. 187-i, and in the Iowa State Register, Oc- 
tober 31, 1873. 

^^* See the first number of De Volksvriend, issued on the 
18th of June. 1874. A cultivated farm of SO acres, one- 
quarter of a mile from Orange City was offered for $25 per 
acre, and a prairie farm of 120 acres near East Orange 
station was advertised for $11 per acre. 

Hospers at one time accused Pella people of hostility 
and jealousy and received this answer: "No! Honesty is 
the best policy, and you always set forth the best and more 
than the best side of things." — Pella's Weekhlad, October 
10. 1874. 

135 rpi^p little book from which the writer quotes so ex- 
tensively is Dr. A. F. H. de Lespinasse's Iowa. pp. 7. 8, 
102, 104. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 399 

'^^^ De Volksvricnd, August 25. 1S75. 

^^" De Tolksvi'iend, September 30, November 11. De- 
cember 9. 1S75, and March 30, 1S76: and PtUa's Weekblad, 
October 7, 1875. 

^^* De Tolksvriend, November IS. 1S75, and March 9, 
16. 30. 1S76: and The Sioux County Herald. January 27, 
February 17, and April 13, 1S76. The Herald contained 
the following item of news: ''^Ir. G. van Schelvin, editor 
of the Holland City Xews purchased two tiers of sections 
and returned to ^Michigan to put things in shape for the 
colony to move on the line of march to Sioux County. . . . 
The farmers around Holland will sell their property and 
come/'" Later it was reported that two ^Michigan parties 
had purchased additional land: "'Should the present 
weather last, we may look for some of the parties here in 
three or four weeks. A few are anxious to locate near 
Orange City." 

CHAPTEB XXrV 

139 YoT agricultural statistics of the townships of Sioux 
County in 1872 see Census of Iowa, 1873, p. 58; and for a 
general review of the early years see Mr. Betten "s article in 
De Tolksvriend, September 19. 1895. 

"''In the Agricultural Beport (Iowa\ 1873. there are 
no returns from Sioux Counts*, but the report of conditions 
in Plymouth, 'Brien, and Lyon counties applies with equal 
force to conditions in Sioux County. As to the locust depre- 
dations of 1873 see pp. 25-28, 438. and 439; and also the 
Report of the F. S. Department of Agriculture. 1873. pp. 
155. 156. Th^ Historical Atlas of Sioux County contains 
articles bv Rev. James de Free, TTm. Dealv. A. van der 



400 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

Meide, and D. Gleysteen, to all of whom the writer is in- 
debted for much of the material embodied in this chapter. 
For an account of donations by Pella, see Fella's Weekhlad, 
December 27, 1873, and January 3, 17, and 24, 1874. 

1" The Sioux City Wcekhj Times, December 6, 1873, pp. 
1 and 4. That Henry Hospers aided the colonists very much 
at this time is apparent from a news item in the Iowa State 
Register, October 31, 1873: "On the evening of the 20th 
the people of the young city called on Mr. Hospers and 
made a public presentation to him of a gold-headed cane. 
The cane was a handsome ebony cane with a large gold head, 
on which is inscribed, very neatly, the following: 'To our 
benefactor, Henry Hospers, from his Sioux County colo- 
nists, 1873'." 

'*^ Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations of the 
Governors of Iowa, Vol. IV, pp. 99, 228. 

^^^ Legislative Documents (Iowa), 1874, Vol. 2, No. 31. 

^** Private, Local and Temporary Laws of Iowa, 1874. 
pp. 11, 12. 

^*^ Sioux City Journal, July 9, 1874; Census of Iowa, 
1875, pp. 119, 178 ; The Historical Atlas of Sioux County ; 
Agricultural Report (Iowa), 1874, pp. 436. 437, 440; and 
the Report of the U. S, Department of Agriculture, 1874, 
pp. 125, 126. 

"® The Congressional Record, Forty-third Congress, 
First Session, Vol. 2, Part 5, p. 4438. 

"^ Iowa State Register, October 30, 1874. 

"* De Volksvriend, July 30, October 29, and November 
5. 1874. and February 13, 1875. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 401 

^*^ The Sioux Counhj Herald, November 25, and Janu- 
ary 27, 1876 ; and De Volksvriend, November 18, 1875. 

In his message to the General Assembly in January, 
1876, Governor Carpenter reported as follows : ' ' The com- 
mission appointed to dispense the appropriation made by 
your predecessors to purchase seed for farmers made desti- 
tute by the grasshopper invasion in some of the counties of 
the northwest faithfully performed the duty. Although 
supplying all who came within the law, they returned $13,- 
786.58 to the state treasury. This appTopriation, with the 
generous private donations made to these people, both in 
1873 and again in 1874, when there was another partial 
destruction of crops, I have no doubt influenced 5,000 peo- 
ple to remain in the state who but for this generosity must 
have left the country. To this work of charity General 
Baker gave time and heart, and deserves mention. The 
past season most of these people have harvested twenty 
bushels of wheat to the acre and are now living in compara- 
tive comfort. " — ■ Shambaugh's Messages and Proclamations 
of the Governors of Iowa, Vol. IV, p. 168. 

^^'^ For accounts of the years 1876-78 see De Volks- 
vriend, September 19, 1895; The Historical Atlas of Sioux 
County; and the Agricidtural Report (Iowa), 1876, pp. 8, 
9, 441 ; 1877, pp. 442, 443 ; and 1879, pp. 24, 26. In these 
agricultural reports Sioux County scarcely receives men- 
tion — no one seems to have reported conditions there, but 
the state of affaire in neighboring counties was practically 
the same. 

CHAPTER XXV 

^^^ loiva Historical and Comparative Census, 1836-1880, 
p. 581. 



402 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

^^- Census of Iowa, 1873, pp. 58, 97; and Iowa State 
Register, August 10, 1870. 

^''^The Gate City (Keokuk), June 17, 1874; and Dc 
Volksvriend, July 16, 23, 30, August 6, and October 29, 
1874. 

^'"^ De VoUsvriend. September 19, 1895 ; and Laivs of 
Iowa, 1868, pp. 126-128. Considering the ruthless destruc- 
tion of the nation's forests everywhere and the rapidly in- 
creasing demand for lumber, it was believed that encourage- 
ment by the State by means of bounties would result in the 
gradual reproduction of timber tracts. The act of the 
legislature was hailed with general satisfaction. 

This State Law also empowered county boards of super- 
Wsors at any time to exempt from taxation, except for 
State purposes, the real or personal property of each tax- 
payer who should plant and suitably cultivate one or more 
acres of forest trees to an amount not exceeding $500 for 
each acre, and the board might fix the minimum number of 
trees which should be grown on each acre. And a similar 
exemption was to be made for ever^' half-mile of hedge, for 
every mile of shade trees along the public highway, and for 
every acre of fruit trees. See also Brindley's History of 
Taxation in Iowa, Vol. I. pp. 262-264. 

^^^Laws of Iowa, 1868. p. 202; Agricultural Report 
(Iowa), 1870, p. 19, and 1871, p. 434; and De Volksvriend, 
June 18, 1875. 

156 2)g Volksvriend. September 19, 1895; and The His- 
torical Atlas of Sioux County, Mr. Gleysteen's article. 

^^'' De Vollisvriend, August 25, and September 9, 16, 
1875. September 9, 1873, was the date of the first excur- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 403 

sion. See Fella's Wcekhlad, August 16, 23, 30, September 
6, 20, October 4, 18, and November 1, 1873. 

158 ji^Qp ^ history of these townships see loiva Historical 
and Comparative Census, 1836-1880, p. 581, or the United 
States Census, 1880, Vol. I, p. 170 ; and also The Historical 
Atlas of Sioux County. The names "Welcome" and 
* ' Capel ' ' are said to have been suggested by John van den 
Berg and M. P. van Oosterhout, respectively. 

/s^Corwin's 3Ianual, pp. 935-1044. 

i«» United States Census, 1880, Vol. T, pp. 170, 507. 

"^ Legislative Documents (Iowa), 1882, Vol. I, No. 11. 

^^^ Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of 
Iowa, 1879, p. 206. See also Census of Iowa, 1885, pp. 69, 
175. 

^•'^ Jan van 't Lindenhout's Zes Weken tusschen de 
Wielen, of De Hollanders in Amerika, p. 173. The frontis- 
piece is a likeness of Rev. S. Bolks, the first regular Dutch 
Reformed minister in Sioux County. 

"* United States Census, 1890, Vol. I, pp. 157, 485; and 
Census of Iowa, 1895, pp. 149, 307. 

^^^ De Volksvriend, September 19, 1895, contains contri- 
butions on all these and various other subjects. 

CHAPTEE XXVI 

"« United States Census, 1870, Vol. I, p. 353. Jackson 
County could lay claim to 746 foreign-born Hollanders, but 
the writer believes this number was misplaced when the 
census returns were printed. At any rate, the county had 
almost no Dutch later on. 



404 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

^"^ Rev. John Schaefer of Alexander, Iowa, informed the 
writer that so far as he was acquainted with the congrega- 
tions of his Classis of the Dutch Reformed Church the 
people were nearly all Germans. 

!"« Pella's Weekhlad, January 8, and February 26, 1870. 
Mt. Carmel in Carroll County was advertised in Pella's 
Weekhlad, June 1, 1872. 

169 piQj. thgf5(. statistics see lotva Historical and Compar- 
ative Census, 1836-1880, pp. 169, 170; and Census Reports 
of Iowa, 1885, p. 175 ; 1895, pp. 307, 330-333 ; and 1905, pp. 
517-520. 

^^^ The writer is indebted to Mr. Henry P. Scholte, a 
son of the founder of Pella, for estimates as to the amount 
of land owned by Hollanders in the various townships of 
Marion and adjacent counties. 

^^' The Register and Leader (Des Moines), July 28, 
1909. 

''- Pella's Weekhlad, August 12, 19, 1871, and Decem- 
ber 1, 1911. 

^"^ See note 169, above, and also United States Summary 
of Commerce and Finance, June, 1903, p. 4,381. 

^''* These estimates as, to the strength of the Dutch in 
the townships of Sioux County are based on the tax-books 
and are furnished by Mr. Herman Te Paske of Orange City, 
Iowa. 

^" Rev. James de Pree of Sioux Center, Iowa, believes 
that these communities attracted most of Sioux County's 
Dutch emigrants, and bases liis judgment on a thirty years' 
acquaintance with northwestern Iowa. 

''^ The Boston Herald, March 19, 1911. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 405 

CHAPTEE XXVII 

''" Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 12, 13, 39, 44, 45. 

''^ Scholte's Tweede Stem uit Pella, pp. 21, 22. On pp. 
16 and 17 he discusses the national debt of Holland. 

''^ Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 2, 3, 12. 

"« Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 31, 32, and p. 56, 
where an article from The Burlington Haivk-Eye is re- 
printed. 

^^^ Laivs of Iowa, January, 1848, p. 16; and Scholte's 
Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 32-34, 61, 62. See also Senate 
Journal, 1847-48, pp. 19, 24; and Donnell's Pioneers of 
Marion County, p. 163. As to the right of suffrage in the 
State of Iowa, see the Constitution of 1846, Article III. 

^*^ Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 33, 34; and Bud- 
dingh's De Hervormde HollandscJie Kerk in de Vereenigde 
Staten van Noord-Amerika (1852), p. 115. 

^^^ Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 26, 27; and 
Scholte's Tweede Stem uit Pella, p. 9. 

^«* Scholte's Ttveede Stem uit Pella, pp. 3, 10. It is a 
noteworthy fact that the Hollanders elected officers accord- 
ing to the law of February 17, 1842, which had been so far 
repealed in 1845 that trustees were to be overseers of the 
poor and also fence-viewers. — See Laws of Iowa, May, 
1845, pp. 27-30. 

^^^ Scholte's Tiveede Stem uit Pella, p. 11; and van 
Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 45. 

^«« See Hoiise Journal, 1848-49, pp. 245, 368, 392 ; and 
Senate Journal 1848 49, p. 212. Also Laws of Iowa, 1848- 
49, p. 112; and Scholte's Tweede Stem uit Pella, p. 11. 



406 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

^*^ Scholte's Tweede Stem uit Pella, p. 12. 

i«8 De Hollanders in loiva, pp. 122, 123. 

^*^ Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 1, 40. 

^^^ Scholte's Tweede Stem uit Pella, p. 2; and Scholte's 
Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 39, 41. 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

^^^ See Dr. Louis Pelzer's The History and Principles 
of the Democratic Party of Iowa, 1846-1857, in The Iowa 
Journal of History and, Politics, Vol. VI, pp. 163-246. 

192 rpj^g Dutch could not have voted until the presidential 
election of November, 1852. The number of votes then cast 
in Lake Prairie Township was even less than the number 
cast in the county election of August, 1852, The number 
of votes polled at the State election of 1854 was just about 
the same as that at the election of August, 1852. — See 
History of Marion County, Iowa, pp. 418-421. 

^^^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 37; An7ials of 
Iowa, Vols. VIII-IX, p. 587; and Donnell's Pioneers of 
Marion County, pp. 110-112. 

'^*The Pella Gazette, February 1, 1855. Mr. H. P. 
Scholte of Pella has the files of his father 's newspaper. 

^^^ De Hollanders in Iowa, p. 130. 

i9« The Pella Gazette, May 3, and August 23 and 30, 
1855; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 81, 82. 

"^ The Pella Gazette. July 19 and August 9, 1855. 

^^^ House Journal, 1850, pp. 69, 160; Senate Journal, 
1852, p. 97; van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part III, pp. 7, 8; 
and The Pella Gazette, August 16, 23, 1855. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 407 

1^^ History of Marion County, loiva, pp. 626-630 ; and 
Bella's Weekblad, March 11, and October 7, 1871. 

200 The Pella Gazette, May 17, 1855, April 17 and June 
5, 12, 26, 1856, and February 18, 1858. The following edi- 
torial appeared on February 18, 1858 : 

Native puppyism was never better illustrated than by the measure 
now proposed. It is a narrow mind indeed that cannot devise a law 
to preserve the purity of elections, without exposing naturalized citi- 
zens to repeated insults. The proposed outrage will sink deep into 
the minds of the Hollanders, and they Avill take care to resent it. 

It is a strange delusion that Rei^ublican ideas flourish only in 
the empty heads of Know-Nothing demagogues, and are things un- 
heard of on the other side of the Atlantic, Are they Know-Nothings 
de facio to such as not to know, that the ancestors of the Holland 
settlers fought and bled eighty years for Eepublican principles, long 
before the very dawn of American independence? Is it news to 
them that there was a time when the navy of that small but gallant 
Republic, made the English Lion tremble in his very lair, and burned 
the English men-of-war within sight of the English capital? Did 
they never hear of William III, who, as stadtholder of the United 
Netherlands and King of England, laid the foundation of that civil 
and religious liberty, which is yet the boast of the Anglo-Saxon race? 

The Hollanders were nursed and cradled under the enjoyment 
of Republican liberty for centuries; and those who have made Iowa 
their home, by choice, will not, without a remonstrance, submit to 
the ignominy of begging for a vote at the polls, with paper rags in 
their pockets, and upon the delivery of four subsequent oaths, at 
the pleasure of any Know-Nothing demagogue that may choose to 
challenge them! 

It was reported by various newspapers in Iowa that 
H. P. Scholte, the head man of the Hollanders in Marion 
County, had left the Democrats and joined the Republicans. 
An Indiana editor heard of it and wrote: "Glad to hear 
it. "We worked for the Old Gentleman while in the land of 
'Prairie-grass' and 'Buffalo-chips', and esteemed him very 
highly. We are glad to hear that a man of his talents and 



408 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

education has joined the Republicans of that young and 
growing State. He is now where he should have been long 
ago, and where we tliink he really was in sentiment some 
time since. ' ' — The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, July 30, 
1859. 

201 The Pella Gazette, June 26, July 24, August 7, 14, 
and November 6, 1856. The Nieuwsbode, published at 
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, was read by many Hollanders at 
Pella. 

202 The Pella Gazette, April 30, and August 6, 13, 1857. 

^'^^ Senate Journal, 1858, p. 121; and The Burlington 
Weekly Hawk-Eye, June 28, 1859. 

20* The Pella Gazette, July 22, 1859 ; and The Burling- 
ton Weekly Hawk-Eye, July 30, 1859. 

205 The Pella Gazette, December 7, 1859 ; Iowa City Re- 
publican, January 25, I860; and The Burlington Weekly 
Hawk-Eye, November 3, 1860. 

206 Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part I, p. 37, and Part III, 
p. 44 ; Census of Iowa, 1869, p. 261. 

20^^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part III, p. 46. 

208 Certain Americans at Pella were notoriously active 
"Copperheads" and after the war were bold enough to pub- 
lish a newspaper called The Copperhead. They held a con- 
vention on July 10, 1861, and passed the following resolu- 
tion: 

Under the aflministration of President Lincoln, we behold our 
beloved country distracted at home, and disgraced abroad. 

Commerce paralyzed! 

Trade annihilated ! 

Coasts blockaded I 

Rivers shut up! 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 409 

The Constitution trampled under foot ! 

Citizens imprisoned! 

Lawa suspended! 

Legislatures overawed by bayonets! 

Debts repudiated and 

States invaded and dismembered! 

See Byers' Iowa in W^ar Times, p. 50; and Donnell's 
Pioneers of Marion County, p. 117. See also van Stigt's 
Geschiedenis, Part III, pp. 45-54. For the names of Hol- 
land-bom members of Iowa Regiments, the writer searched 
through the reports of the Adjutant-General of Iowa, 
1861-65. 

'°^ Donnell's Pioneers of Marion County, pp. 114, 116; 
Pella's WeeUlad, March 23, 1869; Census of Iowa, 1867, p. 
230 ; 1869, p. 261 ; 1873, p. 77 ; 1875, p. 485 ; 1880, p. 642 ; 
1885, p. 381 ; and for subsequent election returns see the 
numbers of the Iowa Official Register from 1887 to 1910. 

Political speeches in Dutch have occasionally been de- 
livered in country school-houses. 

2^° History of Marion County, Iowa, pp. 425-427 ; Don- 
nell's Pioneers of Marion County, p. 94; Phillips' Mahaska 
County, p. 242; Census of Iowa, 1866, p. 163; 1873, p. 144; 
Pella's WeeTihlad, September 28, and October 5, 12, 19, 
1869 ; and October 19, 26, and November 2, 9, 1872. The 
Hollanders found that one of their number was a very use- 
ful and helpful man to have at the county seat whenever 
they had any official business to transact. The editorial 
page of the issue of October 12, 1869, was full of single-line 
exhortations such as "All come out and vote", and "Vote 
for Henry Hospers. " See also Pella Nieuwshlad, November 
3, 1899 ; and the numbers of the Io^va Official Register from 
1888 to 1911. For the names of officers since 1880 the 
writer is indebted to Mr. Meyer Langerak, Knoxville, Iowa. 



410 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

For notice of the death of Mr. McCuUy see House Journal 
(Iowa), 1898, p. 667. 

CHAPTER XXIX 

"^ Be Volksvriend, September 19, 1895 ; and The Iowa 
State Register, October 25, 1901. Also The Historical Atlas 
of Sioux County ; and The Des Moines Weekly Leader, Oc- 
tober 24, 1901. See especially Pelmulder's correspondence 
to Bella's Weekhlad, January 27, and February 2, 10, 17, 
1872. Both Pelmulder and Hospers declared this was not 
the work of a mob. 

212 Census of Iowa, 1873, pp. 144, 147. 

-^^ De Volksvriend, September 19, 1895; Legislative 
Documents (Iowa), 1874, Vol. 2, p. 5 ; and The Sioux City 
Tribune, October 22, 24, 1901. 

2i*Z>e Volksvriend, September 19, 1895, Mr. Betten's 
article; and Bella's Weekhlad, June 25, 1870. 

215 De Volksvriend, June 18, 1874. 

21" De Volksvriend, September 1, and October 10, 21, 

1875. 

21^ Cenms of Iowa, 1875, pp. 452, 456, 493 ; 1885, p. 390. 
See also the Iowa Official Register from 1887 to 1910. 

21* The writer is indebted to ]Mr. Herman Te Paske of 
Orange City, Iowa, for these statistics. See also the Iowa 
Official Register from 1887 to 1912. Of the nine county 
officials besides the supervisors, five were Hollanders in 
1912. Americans, however, have always received the sup- 
port of Dutch voters. Hollanders have been equally strong 
in municipal politics and school elections. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 411 

219 j)q Yrije Hollander, October 13, 1899, and April 6, 
1900. Fella's Weekhlad, March 27, 1903, made political 
capital of Roosevelt's display of favoritism towards the 
English. The editor ridiculed Republicans for supporting 
Roosevelt and referred to his Dutch blood thus: "Half 
Irish, all American, one fourth English, half Dutch, some 
Polish or Hungarian, and some French and German — 
that's Roosevelt!" 

220 2)g Vrije Hollander, November 8, and December 6, 
19, 1901. 

"1 The Sioux City Tribune, October 22, 24, 1901. See 
also Iowa Official Register, 1911-12, p. 92; and The Des 
Moines Weekly Leader, October 24, 1901. 

222 Iowa Official Register, 1911-12, pp. 594, 621. 
CHAPTER XXX 

"3 The Pella Gazette, February 1 and May 17, 1855, 
and May 15, 1856. This, with the exception of one at Coun- 
cil Bluffs, was said to be the westernmost newspaper in Iowa 
in 1855. 

^-* De Hollanders in Iowa, pp. 130, 131. 

22^ This notice was run for several issues after February 
1, 1855. 

22« Z)e Hollanders in Iowa, p. 131; and The Pella Ga- 
zette, August 14, 1856, and January 29, 1857. 

^" The Pella Gazette, September 24, 1857. See The 
Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye, July 21, August 25, Sep- 
tember 1, 8, 15, 29, October 6, 20, 27, and December 15, 29, 
I860; and The Keokuk Gate City, August 15, 1860. 



412 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 



--^ The share-holders were : John Hospers, Jacob de 
Haan, Henry Hospers, G. van Houwelingen, P. M. van der 
Ley, A. C. Kuyper, Isaac Overkamp, William van Asch, J. 
Akkerman, and A. Duinink. — See van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, 
Part III, pp. 37, 38; and also Pella's Weekhlad, April 16, 
1870. 

-'^ Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part III, p. 42. 

^^"Donnell's Pioneers of Marion County, pp. 114, 115; 
and van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part III, p. 69. 

^^^ Van Stigt 's Geschiedenis, Part I, pp. 41, 42, 65. 

""^^ Bella's Weekhlad, March 23, 1869; van Stigt's Ge- 
schiedenis, Part III, p. 38; and Donnell's Pioneers of Mar- 
ion County, p. 116. 

'3^ Pella's Weekhlad, January 11, 26, 1869, and June 25, 
1870; Donnell's Pioneers of Marion County, pp. 68-70; and 
The History of Marion County, Iowa, p. 638. 

Unfortunately the existing files of Pella's Weekhlad 
cover only the years 1869-1873. Mr. Johnson, the present 
editor, also has files of Pella's Nieuwshlad and Pella's Week- 
hlad since February 10, 1899. 

23* De Volksvriend, June 18, 1874, and October 28, 1875. 
Mr. A. J. Betten of Orange City, Iowa, owns the files of 
De Volksvriend covering the early years. 

235 De Volksvriend, December 3, 1874, and November 18, 
1875. 

236 rpj^g writer is indebted to the editors mentioned in 
this chapter for much information. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 413 

CHAPTER XXXI 

-^^Scholte's Bene Stem uit Pclla, pp. 33, 45; van 
Raalte's Landverhuizing, pp. 16, 19; and Brummelkamp 's 
Stemmen uit Noord-Amerika, p. 17. 

-^^ Van Raalte's Landverhuizing, pp. 8, 16, 17. 

"9 Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 35, 36, 37. 

"° Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 82-84. 

^^^Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 55, and Scholte's 
Tweede Stem uit Pella, p. 11. 

-*- Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 31, and Part 
III, p. 60; Scholte's Tweede Stem uit Pella, p. 11; and Re- 
port of Superintendent of Puhlic Instruction (Iowa), 1850, 
p. 94. 

2*3 Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 84. 

2" The Pella Gazette, April 19, 1855. 

2*5 The Pclla Gazette, February 1, 1855; and De Hol- 
landers in loiva, pp. 125-129. 

"« The Pella Gazette, January 17, and May 1, 1856. 
2" The Pella Gazette, January 8, 1857. 
2*8 The Pella Gazette, March 25, 1858. 
2*8 The Pella Gazette, April 28, 1858. 

CHAPTER XXXII 
250 Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part III, pp. 107, 110, 127. 

25iDosker's Levensschets van Ds. A. C. van Baalte, D. 
D., pp. 181-194; and The Pella Gazette, December 6, 1855. 



414 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

-^- The Banner (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Vol. 46, pp. 
71-76; and Be Vrije Hollander, July 3, 17, 1903. The 
writer secured much information also from the Principal, 
Mr. C. Aue. The school property at Orange City is valued 
at $5,250. 

That the advocacy of Christian education is not a pro- 
duct of American conditions but was introduced from IIol- 
land is apparent from the following : 

"In 1857, under the influence of the liberals and the 
Romanists, the government banislied religious instruction 
from the schools, and in 1876 abolished the theological facul- 
ties in the universities, but granted funds to the National 
Synod for special theological instruction. When rational- 
ists secured these professorships the orthodox party estab- 
lished a Free Reformed University at Amsterdam (1880). 
The same party has established free schools all over Hol- 
land, in which evangelical religion is taught. ' ' — Corwin 's 
Manual, p. 13. 

253 rpjjg value of the school property at Sioux Center 
and that of ' ' The Hope School ' ' is estimated at $6,500 and 
$1,200 respectively. — See The Banner (Grand Rapids, 
Michigan), Vol. 46, pp. 108, 401. 

In 1911, schools maintained by parents, members of the 
Christian Reformed Church in America, numbered 133, 
with 172 teachers, and 6843 pupils, at an annual cost of 
$96,000, and with property valued at $227,800. — See The 
Banner (Grand Rapids, Michigan), Vol. 46, pp. 71-76. 

Pella's Weekhlad, December 1, 1911. 

2^* Report of the Superintendent of Piihlic Instruction 
(Iowa), 1910, pp. 200, 203; and The Banner (Grand Rap- 
ids, Michigan), Vol. 46, p. 264. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 415 

CHAPTEE XXXIII 

^^^ Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education 
(Iowa), 1861, Appendices, pp. 35, 36, 91; Biennial Report 
of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (Iowa), 1865, 
pp. 64, 65; and Iowa Historical and Comparative Census, 
1836-1880, p. 537. 

CHAPTEE XXXIV 

2=^« The Pella Gazette, July 12, 1855 ; Catalogue of Cen- 
tral University, 1911, p. 5. See also Clarkson's A Beautiful 
Life, pp. 79-94, for a brief history of the college. 

^^^Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 59, 60. 

2«« The Pella Gazette, August 9, 1855, and April 22, 
1858; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 87. 

^^^ Clarkson's A Beautiful Life, p. 79. 

"° Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part III, pp. 107, 110 ; and 
Iowa Official Register, 1911-12, p. 823. 

2«i Clarkson's A Beautiful Life, pp. 86, 88, 89. 

John Nollen and Henry G. Nollen have been conspicu- 
ous figures in the realm of education and art at Pella. The 
former was once a private teacher of mathematics, natural 
science, French, German, and vocal and instrumental music, 
while his brother was a portrait painter. See their pro- 
fessional advertisements in The Pella Gazette, February 1, 
1855. See also the Catalogue of Central University, 1911 ; 
and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 90. 

CHAPTEE XXXV 

^^^ De Yollisvriend, September 19, 1895; and Pella's 
Weekblad, February 17, 1872. See also De Volksvriend, 



416 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

January 7, February 13, September 30, and October 28, 
1875. 

-"^Dosker's Levensschets van Ds. A. C. van Raalte, D. 
Z>.. p. 181 ; and De Volksvriend, September 19, 1895. 

2®* Mr. Gleysteen's article in The Historical Atlas of 
Sioux County. Mr. Hospers continued to aid the academy 
until his death. See De Vrije Hollander, January 12, 1900. 

^®^ This chapter is based on the Catalogue of Northwest- 
ern Classical Academy, 1909-1910; articles in De Volks- 
vriend, September 19, 1895, and The Historical Atlas of 
Sioux County; and Minutes of the General Synod of the 
Reformed Church in America, 1909. 

CHAPTEE XXXVI 

2*'^ Scholte's Bene Stem nit Pella, p. 35. 

2"Scholte's Eenc Stem uit Pella. p. 35; Nollen's De 
Afscheiding, p. 59; and van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, 
pp. 111-114, 123. 

2«8 Scholte's Eene Stem uit Pella, pp. 13. 14, 34-36. 

2«» Scholte's Ee7ie Stem uit Pella. p. 37; Scholte's 
Tweede Stem uit Pella, pp. 13-15 ; and van Stigt's Geschied- 
enis, Part II, p. 121. 

""Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 116, 122, 124; 
and Nollen 's De Afscheiding, p. 59. 

-'^ Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 124, 125; and 
Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 62. 

"2 Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 61-63; van Stigt's Ge- 
schiedenis, Part II, pp. 125, 126: and Clarke's Jowa Re- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 417 

ports, Vol. II, p. 27. Pella's Garden Square came to the 
attention of the Supreme Court in 1869, as is shown in Iowa 
Reports, Vol. XXX, in the case of Fisher et al. v. Scholte. 

2'3T/te Pella Gazette, January 8, 1857; and Pella's 
Weekhlad, December 7, and 13, 1869. 

This interesting little house of worship of 1855 was 
abandoned in 1910. (See Pella's WeeJcblad, January 12, 
1910.) When the writer visited PeUa in November, 1911, 
the building was being used as a skating-rink and basket- 
ball court by the young people of Pella. Its roof was sag- 
ging in, its sides were bulging out, and its chimney was di- 
lapidated. 

Wlien the people of Utrecht, Holland, in 1909 tore down 
the church in which Scholte once preached, they preserved 
the pulpit and sent it to Pella. This interesting relic 
seemed to possess no sentimental value to the citizens of 
Pella, for they donated it to the Historical Department at 
Des Moines. 

Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, p. 127, and Part III, 
pp. 131-139; and Nollen's Be Afscheiding, pp. 61, 66. 

CHAPTER XXXVII 

"* Van Stigt's Geschiedems, Part T, pp. 32, 33 ; Scholte 's 
Eene Stem uit Pella, p. 59; Nollen's De Afscheiding, pp. 
55-58 ; and Dosker's Levensschets van Ds. A. C. van Raalte, 
D. D., p. 52. 

=^5 Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II. p. 128. and Part 
III, p. 102; and Nollen's Be Afschciding, pp. 64, 65. 

-■« Van Stigt's Geschiedenis, Part II, pp. 95, 98, 108, 
109. The second Baptist church at Pella held services in 
English at 11 and 4 o'clock. There were also congregations 



418 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

of Methodists and Congregationalists in Pella. See an- 
nouncement of church services in The Fella Gazette, Sep- 
tember 14, 1859. 

2" NoUen's De Afscheiding, p. 65. 

2"Corwin's Manual, pp. 935-1044. See also Fella's 
Weekhlad, March 30, May 4, 11, November 2, 16, and De- 
cember 7, 13, 1869. 

At Pella there is a small one-story frame building with 
large white wooden cross. Roman Catholics at Pella dedi- 
cated this little building in May, 1869. Father Krekel who 
was able to speak some Dutch took charge of a congrega- 
tion of forty members. Services are still held at long in- 
tervals by a priest who comes from Oskaloosa to minister to 
two or three families of Irish. 

See also van Stigt's Gcschiedcnis, Part III, pp. 101, 
102, 119. 

^^^Corwin's Manual, pp. 935-1044; and Minutes of the 
General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, 1910, 
p. 803. 

-^"Van't Lindenhout's Z(3s Weken tusschcn dc Widen. 
Rev. Bolks was president of the Classis of Holland. Michi- 
gnn, which sent a conmiissioner to Albany in 1850 to ask to 
be received into the Reformed Church of America. — Cor- 
win's Manual, pp. 139, 335; and Fella's Weekhlad, August 
16, 1871. 

^*^ Rev. de Pree's and Gle^'steen's articles in The II is- 
torical Atlas of Sioux County. See also Stuart's Zes Maan- 
den in Amerika. Part II, pp. 25-27; and Buddingh's De 
Hollandschc Hervormde Kerk in de Vereenigde Staten van 
Xoord-Amerika (1852), pp. 105, 159. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 419 

-^- Corwin's Manual, pp. 935-1044; and Minutes of the 
General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, 1910, 
pp. 781, 787. 

The Reformed Church in America has congregations at 
Parkersburg and Aplington in Butler County, Ackley in 
Hardin County, Belmond in Wright County, Titonka in 
Kossuth County, Buffalo Center in Winnebago County, 
Chapin and Alexander in Franklin County, Fostoria in 
Clay County, Wellsburg and Stout in Grundy County, 
George and Little Rock in Lyon County, and Melvin and 
Sibley in Osceola County. These congregations, however, 
consist almost entirely of German families. — See Minutes 
of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, 
1910, p. 805. 

2«3 Corwin's Manual, pp. 135, 143-207. 

'^* Minutes of the General Synod of the Reformed 
Church in America, 1910. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII 

285 Pqj. short historical sketches of the Christian Re- 
formed Church see Corwin's Manual, pp. 136, 140, 288, 479 ; 
The Banner, Vol. 46, pp. 6, 36, 37, 55; and van Stigt's Ge- 
schiedenis. Part III, pp. 118, 131-133. 

^^^Nollen's De Afscheiding, p. 60; Corwin's Manual, p. 
140. 

-*^ Yearbook of the Christian Reformed Church, 1911, 
pp. 28, 30; and Pella's Weekblad, Februaiy 2, 1869. 

-^^ Yearbook of the Chnstian Reformed Church, 1911, 
p. 25. The Classis of East Friesland in Iowa is almost ex- 
clusively German, with congregations at Wellsburg in 
Grundy County, Ackley in Hardin County, Lincoln Center 



420 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

and Parkersburg in Butler County. Kanawha and "Wright 
in Hancock County, and Ostfriesland near Wesley in Kos- 
suth County. 

-^^ Yearbook of the Christum Reformed Church, 1907, 
pp. 80, 81 ; and the Yearbook for 1911. pp. 60, 61. 

-^^ The Banner (Grand Rapids, Michigan'. Vol. 46. pp. 
376-378, 393; and Dosker's Levensschets van Ds. A. C. van 
Raalte, D. D., pp. 115, 116, 330-333. See The Banner 
(Grand Rapids. Michigan). Vol. 46, p. 328, for ob.jections to 
secret societies. It will be noticed that the United Presby- 
terian Church is practically identical with the Christian 
Reformed Church in doctrine, govemment, and liturgy. 

CHAP TEE XXXIX 

-^^ The Banner (Grand Rapids, Michigan . Vol. 46. pp. 
265, 376, 393. 

-^- Van't Lindenhout's Zes Weken tusschen de Wielen; 
Pclla's Weekblad. October 28, 1871; and Minutes of the 
General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, 1910. 

2^3 The Pella Gazette, February- 22, 1860; and Fella's 
Weekblad, ^ilarch 9, 1869. 

-^* The Christian Intelligencer. June 15. 1876; De Volks- 
vriend, July 20, 27. 1876: and Griffis' The Story of Xew 
Setherland, p. 249. 

CHAPTER XL 

-^^ The gardeners of Orange City were once famous for 
their culture of celery. Some years ago it was said that they 
probably ranked second to the growers of Kalamazoo, ^Nlichi- 
gan, and that their product was shipped all over the States 



XOTES AXD REFERENCES ^1 

elearxrd rn^m so>>j to ^-t*.*^' per acre. — See Agnc.i.'^uni^, Et- 
porf (Iowa >. 1889. p. S42- 

^^ This eomplaint was made bv a writer in Tkf Banner 
(Giand Bapids, Miehigan ». VoL 46, p. 101. **ScHiie eol- 
tiire.'' he assertSy "is obtained in ehurdi. in eateehetieal 
and Sondav-s^ool classes, in yoimg moi's soeieties. in the 
meetii^s of cmsastones. classes and synods, in ieetnre 
eoorses. in meeting of seho(d4)oards and conventions.** 

^Phillips' Hakmsisa County, p. 243: and van Stigt's 
GestJtiedenis. Part 11, p. 66. 

=« Phillips* Mahasim County, pp. 240-242. 

^^SehdLte's Ttrtfdf Stem wit PeUe^ p. 5. 

^** Van*t Lindenhont wrote in his Zes Weken tusstken 
de Wieien -. ' ' Straw is simply burned beeaose it isn't worth 
transportation. If a factoiy were fitted np here f(»- the 
manufacture of straw-paper and for the working of fiax 
which is much sown here and of which onlj the seed is 
saved, a good business enterprise would certainly result.*' 

He also exchdmed: *'How very differait is the esm- 
dition of these good friends here fmn that in Hcdland! 
Most of tiiem perhaps nevo- thou^it of ridii^ in a carriage. 
let alone of owning <Hie. Perhaps aae observes that they 
have had to work hard for it. and this is true, but they have 
at any rate progressed. How many of our peasant fcdk 
there are in H<d]and who have, de^ite hard toiL in reeent 
years retrograded!'* 

^ United Stmtes Census. 1910. Bulletin of StatistieB on 
Agriculture in Iowa. Lyon County had 894 foreign-bom 
farmers and 775 native4iom. Of the Sioux Countv farms. 



422 THE HOLLANDERS OF IOWA 

701 were operated by foreign-bom owners and 736 by for- 
eign-born tenants — only Pottawattamie County had more 
farms operated by foreign-born owners, and Lyon and Ply- 
mouth counties came next to Sioux County with 424 and 391 
foreign-born tenants, respectively. 

^°- United States Census, 1910, Bulletin of Statistics on 
Agriculture in Iowa. 

Sioux County farmers owned 1535 manure-spreaders, 
200 more than the next competing county. — See Agricul- 
tural Report (Iowa), 1909, p. 90, which is the latest report 
on this subject. 

Agricultural Report (Iowa), 1910, pp. 46, 49, 85, 91. 

^"'Agricultural Report (Iowa), 1888, p. 536; 1889, p. 
541 ; and 1895, p. 428. 

'''* Agricultural Report (Iowa), 1909, pp, 91, 92; and 
1910, pp.81, 82. 

305 rpi^g Pella National Bank has wisely hit upon the plan 
of giving its patrons subscriptions to The Homestead in 
place of calendars at Christmas time. Such means are 
destined to stimulate among Dutch farmers a much-needed 
interest in farm journals. 

Mr. H. P. Scholte, who is engaged in the banking busi- 
ness at Pella, informed the writer as to these financial mat- 
ters, quoting a bank-examiner about the notes. 

That some Hollanders are guilty of the sharpest prac- 
tices cannot be denied. Out of fifteen dozens of eggs de- 
livered at a store in Sioux County not quite half were fit to 
eat. This fact aroused the righteous indignation of a news- 
paper man who wrote: "And this in a Dutch community 
too, Avhere we pride ourselves on honesty as a Dutch nation- 
al trait!" — Sioux Center Nieuwshlad, November 22, 1911. 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 423 

APPENDIX B 

306 jr)g y,'{j(, Hollander, October 13, and November 3, 10, 
17, 24, 1899. The writer is indebted to Mr. H. Toering for 
the use of the files from 1899 to 1903. 

^•^^ De Vrije Hollander, December 1, 1899. 

^"^Pella's Nieuwshlad, November 3, 10, 17, 24, 1899, 
March 23, 1900. 

2°^ The Sioux City Journal, December 8, 1899 ; and De 
Vrije Hollander, January 5, 1900. 

310 2)e Vrije Hollander, December 22, 1899, January 12, 
19, February 2, March 30, and May 4, 1900. 

^^^ De Vrije Hollander, December 15, 1899, January 5, 
1900. 

2^- De Vrije Hollander, January 12, 1900. 

^" De Vrije Hollander, January 26, 1900 ; and House 
Journal (Iowa), 1900, p. 122. 

^^* De Vrije Hollander, February 2, May 4, 25, and 
August 17, 1900. 

^^^ De Vrije Hollander, June 15, 1900; and Pella's 
Nieuwshlad, June 1, 15, 1900. 

^^^ Pella's Nieuwshlad, November 2, 1900; and De Vrije 
Hollander during the months of October and November, 
1900. 

^^^ De Vrije Hollander, June 14, July 12, 19, and Au- 
gust 2, 1901 ; and Pella's Nieuwshlad, February 8, March 1, 
April 19, and July 5, 19, 1901. 



424 THE HOLLANPEKS OF IOWA 

•'-Dt Vnjt Hoiiandti: October 4, 11, IS. 1*)1; and 
r^-Ua's XieHwshlad^ Oetober IS. 25. 1901. 

*^* De Vrijf Hcilaiider, July 12. and December 19, 1901. 
Febraaiy 2S, 1902. 

"♦PfMa"* -Vit i*ir*6/4irf, November 1. 1901: and De 
Vrije Hoilamder, December 16. 1901. and Mareh 21. and 
April 4. 1902. 

*" PelJa's Weekbhd, Mart?h 27, 1903. 

After the close of the Boer War WiUiam T. i$tead 
(the well-known London editor and writer who sank with 
the Titanic visited America and one day received an intro- 
duction to Koosevelt. The President, knowingr of Stead s 
pnvBoer sympathies, suddenly tuined to him and ex- 
claimed: '"My people were Dutch, you know, as you can 
tell by the name. 

For a moment Stead eyed him. and then bliiricvi out : 
**You didn't show it much when you sent those mides over 
to South Africa." 

*^ De Vrije HoilamUr. Januaiy 10. 24. 31. February 
2S. March 14. 21, April 25. May 9. Auanist 1. and Septem- 
ber 19. 1902. 

Pelia 's Weeiblad collected several himdreds of doilaTS 
for the Boers as is shown by offic^books. 

"When a report reached the Hollanders of Sioux County 
in 1905 that one of their young men had passed examina- 
ticms for a Rhodes Scholarship, considerable consternation 
ensaaed and old wv^iuids were raked open as is evidenced by 
the following translation of an editorial in the Dutch lan- 
guage, which appeareil in De Vrije HoUmmder on March IS, 
1905: 

As Hixlhuid^r^ as Sioux Ochmi^ eitia«as. ire ^MMiId ivjok^ to 
kan^ a T\Mu§r waa of o«r BattoaaKtr vu tt» kownr of K»Bjr eoa- 



NOTES AND REFERENCES 425 

si«ler^ one of the two best students in tlie State. But ss Hollanders 
vr* are ashamed that a voung man of such talent should humiliate 
himself by aceepting a gift of charity from the low-livevi Cecil 
Rhodes — from the man who was the author of the war against the 
Boers. 

Furthermore, let us keep in mind the purjHise of this scholarship 
priie. These priies are meant to educate American students in 
Knglaud — not to enable them to gather more knowledge — to con- 
vert them into missionaries and proi^agators of the accursed, unjust 
Anglo-Saxon ism. 

That a young man who wishes to advance in the world should, 
in a fit of abspnt-mindednesis, accept money stolen from the Boers, 
besivattered with their blood and with the blood of innocent children 
who starved in the camp«. is a grievous shame. But that the feeling 
of honor of our j^eople should be so stupefied that the young man 
was not admonished is more pitiful still. 

APPEXTIX C 

*" See de I^espinasse "s loira, p. SS: Dosker's Lrvens- 
schtts van Ds. A. C. van EaalU. D. D.. p. 200: Ptila's 
W(tlbhi(i. JuIt 6. 1S69 : and Dt Vriji Holland tr, Janiiaiy 
11. 1901. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Acklev, Hollanders in, 194; church 

at, "307, 419 
Africa, 145 
Agricultural College, Hollanders at, 

274 
Agricultural products, 346, 347 
Agricultural settlements, beginning of, 

21 

Agriculture, success of Hollanders in, 
329-336 

Akkermann, J., 412 

Albany (New York), settlement of 
Dutch at, 16; reference to, 26, 58, 
187; Scholte at, 48, 54; treatment 
of Scholte at, 210 

Albion Township (Butler County), 
Hollanders in, 194 

Alexander (Iowa), 404; church at, 
419 

Aliens, landing-place for, 120 

Alleghany Mountains, method of cross- 
ing, 51 ; reference to, 52 

Allegiance to United States, taking of 
oath of, 211, 212 

Alton, completion of railroad to, 147, 
187; former name of, 186; propor- 
tion of Hollanders in, 187; refer- 
ence to, 191, 282, 284, 354; popu- 
lation of, 202 ; efforts of, to secure 
county seat, 243 ; Dutch church at, 
301 ; municipal improvements at, 
326; mass meetings at, 358, 359; 
visit of Wessels at, 359 

Alton Democrat, The, 255 

America, beginning of Dutch interest 
in, 16; character of Dutch colo- 
nization in, 22-24; dominance of 
Anglo-Saxon influences in, 25 ; im- 
portance of Dutch in colonization 
of, 25, 26; causes for immigration 
to, 30; reasons for turning of Dutch 
to, 37-41, 317; attitude of Hol- 
landers toward, 39, 40 ; iourney 
of Hollanders to. 42 ; region in, de- 
sired by Hollanders, 43 ; arrival of 
Hollanders in, 45, 46, 47 ; arrival 
of Scholte in, 48 ; necessity of in- 
formation concerning, 49 ; dangers 
at seaports of, 49, 50; reception of 
Dutch in, 54 ; exaggerated reports 
from, 96; information relative to 
journey to, 98; false statements 
concerning emigrants to, 99, 100 ; 
advantages of, for emigrants, 108 ; 
benefit of Dutch immigration to, 



154, 155; reports of visitors to, 
154, 155; book on, by Hollander, 
187, 188; contrast between political 
conditions in Holland and, 208, 
209 ; political conditions in, dis- 
cussed by Scholte, 209, 210; im- 
portance of newspapers in, 247 ; 
contrast between schools in Holland 
and, 256 ; hesitancy of Scholte to 
join church in, 294 ; most prosper- 
ous Dutch farming community in, 
332; advice to immigrants to, 339- 
348; agricultural products of, 346, 
347: religious life in, 347; schools 
in, 347 ; purchase of horses in, by 
English, 361, 362 

American party, doctrines of, 221; 
opposition of Hollanders to, 221 

American Reformed Church, congre- 
gations of, '302 

Americans, attitude of, toward Hol- 
landers, 50, 51, 55, 56, 213, 216, 
218; self-sufficiency of, 79; spend- 
ing of money by, 79, 80 ; rush of, 
to California, 84, 85; number of, 
in Pella, 107; business activities of, 
107, 110; gratitude of Hollanders 
to, 107; satisfaction of Iowa with 
immigration of, 116; price of land 
raised by, 141 ; difficulties of Hol- 
landers with, in Sioux County, 144: 
proportion of, in Sioux County, 
186, 201-203; interest of, in poli- 
tics, 221; offices in Sioux County in 
hands of, 255; efforts of, to ex- 
clude Hollanders from office, 239. 
240 ; differences between Holland- 
ers and, in religion, 314 

Amersfoort, 26 

Ames, 274 

Amsterdam (Holland), colony from, 
21; reference to, 89, 151; confer- 
ences of Hospers at, 152 ; money 
for Boers sent to, 355 

Amsterdam (Iowa), laying out of. 89, 
214; expectations for prosperity of, 
89, 90; early growth of, 90; blight- 
ing of hopes of, 90 ; disappearance 
of, 90; reason for laying out of, 
92; price of lots at, 99; skating on 
lake near, 114; location of, 390 

Amsterdam (Wisconsin), 251 

Amusements of Hollanders, 328, 329 

Amsterdamsche Handelsblad, Uel, 247 

429 



430 



INDEX 



Anglican Church, attempt to impose, 

on Dutch, 27 
Anti-Masonic movement, 307 
Aplington, church at, 419 
Appleton (Wisconsin), 251 
Arboriculture, attitude of Hollanders 

toward, 320, 321 
Archer, Dutch church at, 302 
Artisans, wages of, 81 
Asia, 145 
Atheists, exclusion of, from emigrant 

associations, 43 
Atlantic Ocean, voyage across, 47 ; 

deaths on voyage across, 53 
Aue, C, 414 
Aue, John F. D., newspaper edited 

by, 255 
Australia, 373 
Austria-Hungary, 376 
Automobiles, use of, by Hollanders, 

335 
Avignon (France), 145 
Awtry, G., election of, as trustee, 214 
Axel (Holland), conference of Hos- 

pers at, 152 

Backwoodsman, character of, 80 

Baker Township (O'Brien County), 
Hollanders in, 200 

Bakers, 80 

Balkema, Albert, office held by, 242 

Balkema, Nicholas, service of, as Sena- 
tor, 244 

Baltimore (Maryland), arrival of Hol- 
landers at, 47, 48, 50; journey to 
St. Louis from, 48-53 ; description 
of, 50; departure of Hollanders 
from, 51 ; reference to, 53 

Baptist Church, 109, 296 

Baptists, college established by, 107, 
263, 276-279 

Barendregt, Hendrik, letter to Scholte 
from, 45, 339-348; election of, as 
overseer of poor, 214 

Barendregt, Peter, 223 

Barlev, production of, in Sioux 
County, 332 

Batavi, descendants of, 15 

Batavia, 195 

Bates, Curtis, 220 

Beaver (Pennsylvania), 99 

Bflgic Confession, 305 

Belgic Netherlands, emigrants from, 
16 

Belgium, 352, 376 

Bell, Miss Currer, 137 

Belmond, church at, 419 

Beloit (Iowa), Hollanders at, 159 

Benevolences, 311, 312 

Benton, Thomas H., Jr., vote of Hol- 
landers for, 231 

Benton County, number of Holland- 
ers in, 104, 193 

Bergen (New Jersey), 26 

Berkshire hogs, 334 



Bermuda Islands, clothing for Boer 
prisoners on, 311, 361 

Bethanv, Dutch church at, 297 

Bethel Church, 297 

Bethlehem, Dutch church at, 297 

Betten, Rev. Anthony J., 46, 180, 190, 
295; election of, as trustee, 214; 
church services conducted by, 290 

Betten, Anthony J., acknowledgments 
to, 9; office held by, 235, 237, 242; 
reference to, 240, 348, 379, 382, 
413 

Betten, Herman, office held by, 242 

Big Sioux River, settlers on, 138; 
reference to, 237 

Black Hawk County, Hollanders in, 
194; reference to, 396 

Black Oak Township (Mahaska 
County), Hollanders in, 104, 197; 
vote for Roosevelt in, 232 

Blacksmith shops, 110 

Boekenoogen, G., office held bv, 224 

Boeyink, John, office held by, 242 

Boer war, attitude of Hollanders dur- 
ing, 349-363 

Boers. 243, 425 ; relief supplies for, 
311 ; interest of Hollanders in suc- 
cess of, 349 ; collection of monev 
for, 350-354, 355, 359-362; appea'l 
for aid for, 351-353; rejoicing of 
Hollanders at victories of, 353 ; re- 
ports of raising of men to aid, 354; 
resolutions of councils relative to, 
355-358; Hollanders in armies of, 
359 

Bolks, A., 358 

Bolks, George J., office held by, 242 

Bolks, Seine, cheerfulness of, 172 ; 
service of, to Dutch colonv, 178, 
298, 301; reference to, 184, 418; 
experiences of, in Michigan, 281 ; 
character of preaching by, 301, 
302; portrait of, 403 

Bonds, suit relative to, in Sioux 
County, 237, 238; settlement of 
case relative to, 238 

Books, lack of, 324 

Boston, arrival of Hollanders at, 46; 
arrival of Scholte at, 48 ; visit of 
Scholte at, 54 

Bousquet, A. E. D., efforts of, to build 
up colony, 90, 91 : interest of, in 
hisher education, 276; reference to, 
279, 291, 296, 391 

Bousquet, Henry L., office held by, 233 

Bousquet, Herman F., office held by, 
233 

Bousquet, Pierre H., office held by, 
233 

Boyden, Dutch church at, 186, 302; 
reference to, 191, 284; population 
of, 203 ; plan for parochi.il school 
at, 269; monev raised for Boers at, 
360 

Breda, Hollanders in, 195 

Breuckelen, 26 



INDEX 



431 



Brick-kilns, 80, 90, 110 

British, ships of, burned by Dutch, 
246; rejoicing at disasters of, 353 

British Isles, immigrants from, 25 

Brooklyn (New York), 26 

Brummelkamp, Anthony, 32, 295 ; em- 
igration encouraged by, 42-44 

Brussels, money for Boers sent to, 355 

Bryan, William J., vote of Hollanders 
for, 232, 359 

Bufhanan, James, vote for, 226 

Buckwheat, 77 

Buena Vista County, missionary in, 
128 

Buffalo (New York), 98, 99 

Buffalo Center, church at, 419 

Buncombe Township (Sioux County), 
138 

Burlington, number of Hollanders in, 
103; stage route to Council Bluffs 
from, 112; reference to, 230, 387; 
Dutch church in, 296 

Burlington and Missouri River Rail- 
road", 113 

Bushws'ck (New York), 26 

Business life, 326, 327 

Business men, debt due to, 173 

Bussey, Hollanders in vicinity of, 196 

Butler County, Hollanders in, 104, 
194; churches in, 419, 420 

Butter, making of, by Hollanders, 77 

Caesar, 65 

Calhoun County, 128 

California, rush of gold seekers to, 
84, 85; Hollanders in, 376 

Calliope, 138; method of reaching, 
145 ; removal of county seat from, 
147, 148, 237; county seat at, 235; 
journey of officers to, 235 ; journey 
of Hollanders to, 236; safe taken 
from, 236, 237; safe returned to, 
237; newspaper removed from, 252 

Canada, immigrants from, in Sioux 
County, 187, 189; reference to, 
254, 308 

Canadians, proportion of, in Sioux 
County, 186 

Canals, travel on, 51 

Cape Colony, 374 

Capel Township (Sioux County), es- 
tablishment of, 185 ; proportion of 
Hollanders in, 187, 201 

Capital, new site for, 91, 92; peti- 
tions for removal of, to Pella, 223 

Carmel, Dutch church at, 186, 302 

Carnegie-Viersen Library, 324 

Carnes, Dutch church at, 306 

Carpenter, C. C, 165, 237, 401 

Carpenters, 110 

Carroll County, Hollanders in, 195 

Carroll Township (O'Brien County), 
Hollanders in, 200 

Cass, Lewis, 216 

Castle Garden, landing-place for aliens 
at, 120 



"Catharina Jackson" (ship), 46 

Cathay, 16 

Catholic church, 267 

Catholics, 195, 418 

Cattle, 161 ; herding of, 182 ; raising 
of, in Sioux Countv, 333 ; fine 
breeds of, 334 

Cedar Grove (Wisconsin), 251 

Cedar Rapids Republican, The, 255 

Celery, raising of, 420, 421 

Census, statistics from, 103-105, 179- 
207 

Center Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 203 

Central University, establishment of, 
107; preparatory department of, 
111, 273; higher education receiv- 
ed at, 274; sketch of historv of, 
276-279 

Cerro Gordo County, Hollanders in, 
194 

Chamberlain, Joseph, 356 

Chancellor (South Dakota), 204 

Chapin, church at, 419 

Cheese, making of, bv Hollanders, 77, 
78 

Cherokee, government road to, 129 ; 
description of, in 1869, 129; refer- 
ence to, 130, 131; land near, pur- 
chased by speculators, 132 

Cherokee County, available land in, 
131; reference to, 133 

Chicago, 57, 99, 158; Dutch emi- 
grants from, 140; Hollanders in, 
157, 158, 376; money for fire suf- 
ferers at, 311 

Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul 
Railroad, 187 

Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and 
Omaha Railroad, 202 

Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 
187 

Chicago Convention, Scholte as dele- 
gate to, 229 

Chicago Times-Herald, correspondence 
in, 354 

China, search for passage to, 16 

Christelijke Vitdeeler, De, 252 

Christian Church at Pella, organiza- 
tion of, 288; split in, 291; breach 
between Scholte and, 291, 292 ; 
merging of, into Dutch Reformed 
Church, 295; dissolution of, 297 

Christian Reformed Church, congrega- 
tions of, 29, 194, 419, 420; "refer- 
ence to, 109, 110, 313. 420; pa- 
rochial schools of, 268-270; plan 
of, to establish academy, 270; 
sketch of history of, in Iowa, 305- 
309; education of ministers of, 
307; total membership of, 308, 376, 
377; reasons for recent growth of, 
308, 309; relations between Dutch 
Reformed Church and, 310, 311; 
language used in, 314, 315; num- 
ber of schools maintained by, 414 



432 



INDEX 



Christian schools, 266-270; reasons 
for establishing, 268, 2 69 

Church, regulations for, approved by 
William I, 31; government of, 31; 
irregularities in, 31; secession from, 
31, 32; Seceders excommunicated 
by, 32 ; separation of men and wo- 
men at, 312; attendance at, 312, 
313 ; effect of, on life of Holland- 
ers, 318 

Church Square, controversy over, 291, 

Churches, number of, in New Neth- 
erland, 26, 27; increase in num- 
ber of, 27 ; distribution of, 29 ; 
early history of, at Pella, 288-293; 
history of Dutch, in Iowa, 294, 
309; establishment of, 295-298, 
302; relations between, 310, 311 

Cincinnati (Ohio), railroad from 
Sandusky to, 99 

Civil War, Dutch immigration dur- 
ing, 104; reference to, 113; ser- 
vice of Hollanders in, 230; Central 
Universitv students in, 278 

Clara City (Minnesota), 204 

Clark, Dan E., acknowledgments to, 9 

Clark, Green F., election of, as jus- 
tice of peace, 214 

Classis of East Friesland, 307, 308; 
congregations of, 419, 420 

Clay, Henry, 220, 228 

Clay County, church in, 419 

Clay Township (Marion County), Hol- 
landers in, 196 

Clearwater (Minnesota), 251 

Clergy, salaries of, 31; education of. 
31 

Clerk of district court, 235, 242 

Climate, 346 

Clinton, Hollanders in, 193 

Clinton County, Hollanders in, 193; 
reference to, 396 

Clydesdale stallions, 334 

Coal, premium for discovery of, 238 

Code Napoleon, 32, 379 

Cole, Cyrenus, newspapers edited bv, 
255 

Colonists, neglect of, 19, 21 

Colonization, conditions unfavorable 
to, 17; resolution to encourage, 18, 
19; part played by Dutch in, 22-24 

Colorado, Dutch churches in, 29; ref- 
erence to, 84, 254; emigration to, 
199, 204 

Colorado locusts, 171 

Columbia (Pennsylvania), 51, 385 

Columbia Township (Tama County), 
Hollanders in, 193 

Columbia Township (Wapello Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 104 

Committee (legislative), investigation 
of locust ravages by, 165-169 

Committee of Investigation (1847), 
choice of land by, 61-64 

Committee of Investigation (1869), 



members of first, 127; operations 
of first, 127-131; appointment of 
second, 131; authority of second, 
132; members of second, 132; 
choice of Sioux County bv second, 
132-135 

Community life among Hollanders, 
317-336 

Coneraaugh Vallej', 51 

Confession of Faith, 31 

Congregationalists, 418 

Congress, provision for improvement 
of Des Moines River by, 88, 89; 
act of, relative to locust sufferers, 
171 

Connecticut River, 16, 18 

Constables, election of, 214 

Constitution of 1857, vote of Holland- 
ers on, 226 

Coopers, 110 

Copperheads at Pella, 230 

Corn, 77, 160, 171; plan for ship- 
ping of, 91; production of, in 
Sioux County, 332 

Corn-mills, 110 

Corsica (South Dakota), 204 

Council Bluffs, talk of railroad from 
Dubuque to, 92 ; stage route, from 
Burlington to, 112; reference to, 
132, 411; Hollanders in, 194 

Councilmen, 109 

Counties, number of Hollanders in, 
104, 105 

Country life among Hollanders, 329- 
336 

Countv auditor, 235, 242 

County clerk, 233 

County recorder, 233 

County seat, removal of, from Cal- 
liope, 147, 148; choice of Orange 
City as, 180; desire for change of, 
from Knoxville, 213; retention of, 
at Knoxville, 214; reference to, 
235; removal of, to Orange City, 
237; proposition to relocate, 243 

Countv Superintendent. 242 

County Supervisors, 233, 235, 242 

County surveyor, 150, 222 

County treasurer, 233, 242 

Courthouse, building of, at Orange 
City, 238 

Cows, cost of, 343 

Creed, maintenance of, 31 

Cron.ie, Piet, 355 

Crops, destruction of, by locusts, 163, 
170, 171; need for variety of, 172 

Cuba, 243 

Cumberland Road, 386 

Cummins, Albert B., vote of Hol- 
landers for, 241 

Curtis, Samuel R., efforts of Scholte 
in behalf of, 229 

Customs, passing of, 340, 341 

Dairy farming, popularity of, 78 ; op- 
portunities for, 344 



INDEX 



433 



Dallas (Texas), 251 

Danish language, pamphlet translated 
into, 121 

Davenport, 85 ; Hollanders in, 193 ; 
Dutch church at, 293, 297 

Dealy, William, 399 

De Bey, Albert, office held by, 242 

Debts, burden of, 174, 175, 177 

De Cock, Henry, 32 

De Cook, Stephen, office held by, 233 

De Haan, Jacob, 412 

Dekker, H., service of, in Boer arm- 
ies, 359 

Delaware, prosperity of Dutch in, 25; 
reference to, 26 

Delaware River, 18, 21 

De Lespinasse, A. F. H., medical 
school opened by, 280, 281 

Democracy, evidences of, among Hol- 
landers, 325, 326 

Democratic party, reasons for support 
of, bv Hollanders, 222 ; support of, 
by Hollanders, 224-232, 241 ; de- 
sertion of, by Scholte, 227-229, 407 ; 
reference to, 349 

Democratic State Convention, Scholte 
as delegate to, 227 

Democrats, 219; vote of Hollanders 
for, 220 

De Mots, Ed., office held by, 242 

Den Hartog, Cornelius, election of, as 
overseer of poor, 214 

Denmark, 376 

De Free, James, 399, 404 

Derbyites, society of, 297 

De Spelder, John A., 282 

Des Moines, completion of railroad 
to, 113; reference to, 132, 251, 
275; Hollanders in, 195 

Des Moines rapids, 87 

Des Moines River, purchase of land 
on, 64; reference to, 70, 196, 197, 
198, 213, 336, 390; saw-mills on, 
75, 110; post-office on, 86; provi- 
sions for improvement of, 88, 89 ; 
town of Amsterdam on, 89 ; high 
water on, 90; impracticability of 
improvement of, 90 ; navigation of, 
90, 91; railroad land grants in val- 
ley of, 113; town laid out on, 214; 
agitation for improvement of, 215 ; 
land appropriated for improvement 
of, 388 

Des Moines Steamboat Company, 91 

Des Moines Township (Jasper Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 197 

Des Moines Valley Railroad, Pella 
reached by, 113 

De Visser, A., election of, as fence 
viewer, 214 

De Wild, John, newspaper published 
bv, 255 

De Witt, Hollanders in, 193 

Dialects, variety of, 327 

Dingman, Mr., 180 

Dissenters, desire of, for Christian 



education, 34; reasons for opposi- 
tion of, to Java, 38 ; reference to, 
42, 43 ; emigrant association form- 
ed by, 44; distribution of, 382; 
(see also Seceders and Separatists) 

Doctors, 110 

Doctrinal Rules of the Svnod of Dort, 
31 

Dodge, Augustus C, vote of Holland- 
ers for, 229 

Dokkum (Friesland), pamphlet pub- 
lished in, 116 

Donner, Rev., 295 

Doon, purchase of land near, 159; in- 
terest in parochial school at, 269; 
Dutch church at, 302, 306 

Dordrecht (Holland), conference of 
Hospers at, 152 

Douglas, Stephen A., vote for, 229 

Drenthe (Holland), 327, 363 

Dress, simplicity of, 323 

Dronrijp (Holland), conference of 
Hospers at, 152 

Drug stores. 111 

Druggists, 110 

Dubuque, talk of railroad to Council 
Bluffs from, 92 ; Hollanders in, 
103, 193; reference to, 195, 230 

Dubuque Countv, Hollanders in, 104, 
105, 192, 193 

Dug-outs, description of, 74, 75, 142, 
143 

Duinink, A., 412 

Durham cattle, 334 

Duroc Jersey hogs, 334 

Dutch, origins and present-day con- 
ditions of, in Iowa, 7 ; sources for 
history of, in Iowa, 8 ; early settle- 
ments of, 15-24; beginning of in- 
terest of, in America, 15, 16; region 
claimed by, 16; capture of Span- 
ish ships by, 17 ; interest of, in fur 
trade, 18 ; plan for direction of, to 
America, 18 ; amalgamation of Eng- 
lish and, 22, 26; number of, in 
New York, 22 ; character of colon- 
ization by, 22-24 ; prosperity of, 25 ; 
adherence of, to Dutch Reformed 
Church, 25, 26; disappearance of 
institutions and lanaruage of, 27; 
emigration of, from New York, 27 ; 
increase in number of churches of, 
27 ; part of, in westward move- 
ment, 28 ; reasons for turning of, 
to America, 37-41 ; necessity of em- 
igration recognized by, 37; recep- 
tion of, in America, 54-56 ; settle- 
ment of, in Michigan, 57 ; attitude 
of, toward backwoodsmen, 80; fi- 
nancial condition of, 95; twenty- 
five years of immigration of, 101- 
105: number of, in Pella, 107; 
frontier stage of society among, 108 ; 
encouragement of immigration of, 
by State, 115-122; new settlement 
of, advised, 122; honesty of, 162, 



434 



INDEX 



163; expulsion of Spanish and 
French by, 185; progress and ex- 
pansion of, in Iowa, 192-207 ; clan- 
nisliness of, 200; anxiety of, to im- 
prove farms, 219, 220; careless- 
ness of, at elections, 224; imitative 
faculty of, 319; effect of, upon 
American character, 373 (see also 
Hollanders) 

Dutch Church, Garden of the, 27 

Dutch government, neglect of colon- 
ists by, 21 

Dutch language. Governors' messages 
printed in, 118, 119; pamphlet 
translated into, 121; reason for not 
publishing newspaper in, 245, 246; 
news in, published by Scholte, 247, 
248 ; service of newspapers in per- 
petuating, 255; question of preach- 
ing in, 296; ministers trained to 
preach in, 303; preaching in, 314, 
315; dialects of, 363; forces tend- 
ing toward maintenance of, 363, 
364; gradual disappearance of, 
365, 366 

Dutch Presbyterian Church, 297 

Dutch Reformed Church, importance 
of, 25, 26, 374, 375; growth and 
prosperity of, 27, 28 ; congregations 
of, 29, i85, 186, 194, 419; paro- 
chial school of, 266-268; college of, 
in Michigan, 274 ; reference to, 
283, 284, 285, 313; sketch of his- 
tory of, in Iowa, 294-304; educa- 
tion of ministers of, 303 ; total 
membership of, 304, 377; reasons 
for secessions from, 305, 306: con- 
troversy over secret societies in, 
307; relation between Christian Re- 
formed Church and, 310, 311; lan- 
guage used in, 314, 315 

Dutch settlers, descendants of early, 
375 

Dwellings, character of first, 73, 74, 
75, 141-143 ; character of, in Pella, 
76; improvement of, 162; descrip- 
tion of, 167, 168, 322, 323 

Dvkes, building of, along Skunk Riv- 
"er, 198 

Earrings, 328 

East, route to Mississippi Valley from, 
52 

East Indies, attention called to, 38 

East Orange, completion of railroad 
to, 147; reference to, 170, 173. 180, 
184; change of name of, 186; 
Dutch church at. 186, 301 ; price 
of land near, 398 

East Orange Township (Sioux Coun- 
ty), establishment of, 185; popula- 
tion of, 186, 202; reference to, 240; 
politics in, 241 

Eddyville, Hollanders in. 195: Hol- 
landers near, 197; Dutch church 
at, 297 



Edgerton (Minnesota), 204 

Education, desire of Dissenters for 
provision for, 34; means of. 111, 
256-286; difficulty in securing, in 
Holland, 256-258; interest of Hoi 
landers in higher, 273-275 

Elections, strength of Hollanders in, 
147, 148 ; first participation in, by 
Hollanders, 214; participation by 
Hollanders in, 219-244 

Electric lights, 326 

Elk Creek Township (Jasper County), 
Hollanders in, 197 

Ellis, W. J., oflice held by, 224 

Elwell, Stilman, election of, as con- 
stable, 214 

Emigrant association, formation of, at 
Utrecht, 44 ; journey of members of, 
to America, 44-47 

Emigrant associations, formation of, 
42 ; membership of, 42, 43 ; land in 
one locality desired by, 43 ; reason 
for formation of, 43, 44 

Emigrant companies, good results ob- 
tained by, 120 

Emigrants, favorable reports sent to 
fatherland by, 41 ; advice to, 42, 
156, 157, 339-348; instructions to, 
45 ; number of first, 46 ; false state- 
ments concerning, 99, 100; charac- 
ter of, 102 ; equipment of, 344, 345 
(see also Immigrants) 

Emigration, conditions unfavorable to, 
17; plan to facilitate, 19, 20; causes 
for, 30-36; recognition of necessity 
of, 37 ; fear of, on part of officials, 
37, 38; encouragement of, 42-44: 
description of, 65 ; memorable years 
in history of, 94; need of, in Mar- 
ion County, 122-126 (see also Im- 
migration) 

Emmet County, 128 

England, war between Holland and, 
21 ; conditions in, favorable to emi- 
gration, 23, 24; reference to, 45, 
376; immigrants from, in Sioux 
County, 187, 189; hostility of Hol- 
landers toward, 349 

English, causes for emigration of, 17; 
coming of, to New Netherland, 19 ; 
eflfect of capture of Dutch colony by, 

21, 22; amalgamation of Dutch and 

22, 26; immigration of, 25; oppres- 
sion of Dutch by, 27; alleged aid 
to, by Roosevelt, 361 

English Channel, 45 

English language, value of knowledge 
of, 347 ; supplanting of Dutch lan- 
guage by, 364-366 

Erie (Pennsylvania), 99 

Esopus (New York), 19, 26 

Europe, emigration from, 21, 65, 83; 
causes for emigration from, 30; 
density of population in, 30; home- 
seekers from, 45 ; character of life 
in, 68, 69 ; character of dwellings 



INDEX 



435 



in, 76 ; need of reaching emigrants 
before leaving, 120; immigration 
agents in, 121; revolution in, 217; 
reconstruction in, 287 

Evangelical Alliance, delegate from 
Holland to, 154 

Evening Times, The, (Cedar Rapids), 
255 

Excelsior Mills (Illinois), 251 

Factories, plan for building of, 90 

Fairfield, investigation in land office 
at, 62, 63 

Fairview Township (Jasper County), 
Hollanders in, 197 

Fares (steamboat), 340, 341 

Fares from Holland to America, 346 

Farm implements, 161, 331; need for 
purchase of, 162; purchase of, on 
credit, 162, 163 

Farmer's Tribune, The, 335 

Farmers, need of, 20; success of Hol- 
landers as, 329-336 

Farming, interest of Hollanders in, 
76, 77 

Farms, character of, in Marion Coun- 
ty, 77; necessity of labor on, 258, 
259 

Faust, Albert B., 375. 

r">nce viewers, 214, 405 

Fences, necessity for building of, 182 ; 
reference to, 322 

Feudal system, revival of, 18 

Fields, ravaging of, by locusts, 163, 
164, 170, 171 

Fisher, William, office held by, 224 

Fisk, Mr., 356 

Fisscher, A., 359 

Flatbush (New York), 26 

Flatlands (New York), 26 

Flas, 77 

Floods of 1851, 90 

Flowers, growth of, by Dutch, 321 

Floyd River, 130, 133 

Floyd Township (Sioux County), es- 
tablishment of, 185; population of, 
186, 202; proportion of Hollanders 
in, 187; reference to, 240; politics 
in, 241 

Foods, among Hollanders, 323 ; amount 
of, needed by emigrants, 345 

Foreign immigration, attitude of 
Hempstead toward, 119 

Fort Amsterdam, 18 

Fort Des Moines, evacuation of, by 
Dragoons, 71; reference to, 88, 89; 
stage route through, 112, 113 

P"ort Dodge, 128, 354; Hollanders in, 
194 

Fort Good Hope, 18 

Fort Nassau, 18 

Fort Orange (New York), settlement 
of Dutch at, 16; reference to, 18, 
26 

Fostoria, church at, 419 



Fourth of July, celebration of, by 
Hollanders, 114, 328, 329, 360 

France, 22, 352, 376 

Franco-Prussian War, 151 

Franklin County, Hollanders in, 194; 
churches in, 419 

Franklin Street, 73 

Franziska (ship), 391 

Fremont, John C, vote for, 226 

French, 31; coming of, to Pella, 106 

Friesian cattle, 334 

Friesland, number of emigrants from, 
in Iowa, 103 ; pamphlet published 
in, 116; reference to, 327, 382; 
language of people of, 363 

Frieslanders, emigration of, to Sioux 
County, 140 

Frontier, arrival of Hollanders on, 
69 ; land purchased on, 71 ; adapta- 
tion of Hollanders to life on, 78, 
79, 81; first settlers on, 80: draw- 
backs of life on, 86 

Fruit, 77 

Fruit trees, failure of Hollanders to 
appreciate value of, 321 

Fuel, difficulty in securing, 144, 147 

Fur trade, interest of Dutch in, 18, 20 

Furniture, description of pioneer, 143 

Galesburg, Hollanders near, 197; 
Dutch church at, 297 

Galveston (Texas), relief for flood 
sufferers at, 311 

Garden Square, 108, 276, 291 

Gardening, interest of Dutch in, 320 

Garfield Township (Mahaska County), 
Hollanders in, 197 

Garfield Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 203 

Gas plants, 326 

Gelderland, 327, 363, 382; emigrants 
from, 381 

Gelderschman, letters by, 109, 117 

Genderen (Holland), conference of 
Hospers at, 152 

General Assembly, railroad land grant 
made by, 113; relief for grasshop- 
per sufferers by, 165-169; appro- 
priation by, for purchase of seed; 
169; township government given to 
Hollanders by, 212; Dutch mem- 
bers of, 244 

George, church at, 419 

German language. Governors' mes- 
sages printed in, 118; pamphlet 
translated into, 121 

German Township (Grundy County), 
Hollanders in, 194 

Germans, 49, 61, 307, 336, 343, 347 
404, 419 ; attitude of Americans to 
ward, 55 ; coming of, to Pella, 106 : 
proportion of, in Sioux County, 
186, 202, 203; objection of Hoi 
landers to being called, 240 

Germany, immigrants from, in Sioux 



436 



INDEX 



County, 187, 189; reference to, 352, 
376 
Gleysteen, D., 400 
Gleysteen, D. J., office held by, 243 
Gold, finding of, in California, 84 
Gold-seekers, description of, 84, 85 
Gorinchem (Holland), 151; confer- 
ences of Hospers at, 152 
Governor, messages of, printed in 

Dutch, 118, 119 
Grafe, E. F., office held by, 224 
Graham, John A., 388 
Grain, destruction of, by locusts, 163, 

176 
Grand Haven (Michigan), Holland- 
ers in, 157, 158; reference to, 251 
Grand Rapids (Michigan), Holland- 
ers in, 157, 158; reference to, 188, 
251, 268; theological school at, 307 
Grant, Edwin H,. newspaper publish- 
ed by, 110, 220, 245 
Grant, Ulvsses S., 232 
Grant Chief, The, 255 
Grant Township (Sioux County), pop- 
ulation of 202, 
Grasshoppers, invasion of, 167; debts 
occasioned by raid of, 170; damage 
by, in 1875, 175; attempts to de- 
stroy, 176 (see also Locusts) 
Gravesend (New York), 26 
Great Northern Railway, 189 
Green Bay (Wisconsin), 251 
Green Township (Wapello County), 

number of Hollanders in, 104 
Grimes, James W., message of, print- 
ed in Dutch, 118; election of, as 
Senator, 227 
Grinnell (College. Hollanders at, 274 
Groningen (Holland), 327, 363, 382 
Groningen, University of, 31 
Grundv County, Hollanders in, 105, 
194; church in, 307, 419; refer- 
ence to, 358 
Gulf of Mexico, 339 
Guthrie County, 396 

Haarlem (Holland), 151 

Haarlem (New York), 26 

Half-Breed Tract, condition of land 
titles in, 61, 62 

Half Moon, 16 

Hamlin, Hannibal, efforts of Scholte 
in behalf of, 229 

Hammond, S. M., newspaper publish- 
ed by, 249 

Hancock County, churches in, 420 

Hardin County, Hollanders in, 105, 
194; church in, 307, 419 

Hardship, years of, 160-178 

Hardware business, 110 

Harlan, W. S., 394 

Harmelink, Charles, office held by, 242 

Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), 51, 385 

Harrison (South Dakota), 204 

Harvard College, 277 

Harvest, reliance upon, 162, 163 



Harvey, Hollanders in vicinity of, 
196; Dutch church at, 306 

Heemstra, John F., 283 

Heemstra, Tjeerd, office held by, 235 

Heerenveen (Holland), conferences of 
Hospers at, 152 

Heidelberg Catechism, 31, 290, 305, 
307 

Heidenwereld, De, 254 

Hemp, 77 

Hempstead, Stephen, recommendation 
of, concerning immigration, 119 

Hensden (Holland), 151 

Herd law, adoption of, in Sioux 
County, 182 

Hereford cattle, 334 

High schools, 271-275 

Hog law, 109 

Hogs, raising of, bv Hollanders, 78, 
161, 333, 334 

Holland, Golden Age of, 15; attitude 
of West India Company toward 
emigration from, 17; conditions in, 
unfavorable to colonization, 17, 23, 
24; plan to facilitate emigration 
from, 19, 20; return of settlers to, 
20; war between England and. 21; 
part of, in American colonization, 
22; state church of, 27; number of 
immigrants from, 28, 104 ; coming 
of William I to throne of, 30, 31; 
conditions in, in nineteenth cen- 
tury, 30-36; persecution of Separat- 
ists in, 32 ; economic conditions in, 
34-36, 97; character of farms in, 
59; letters from consul in, 60; 
roads in, 88 ; beginnings of emigra- 
tion to Iowa from, 94; pamphlet 
bv Van Raalte sold in, 95 ; pamph- 
le't by Scholte sold in, 96, 116; 
newcomers from, advised to go to 
Michigan, 98 ; emigrants from, plac 
ed in false light, 99, 100; efforts 
to secure emigration from, 101, 
107 ; character of emigrants from, 
102; comparison of condition of 
Dutch in Iowa and, 106; advice 
to emigrants from, 117, 339-348; 
Hospers as emigrant agent in, 121 ; 
advertisement in newspapers in, 
151; interest in, in emigration to 
Iowa, 152, 153; benefits of emi- 
gration from, to America, 154, 155; 
letters of inquiry from, 155, 156; 
reference to, 157, 352, 376; immi- 
grants from, in Sioux County, 187, 
189; contrast between political con- 
ditions in America and, 208, 209 ; 
renouncement of allegiance to, 211, 
212; revolution in, 217; impossi- 
bility of establishing free govern- 
ment in, 219 ; political condition of 
people in, 219: contrast between 
schools in America and, 256; hos- 
tility toward Christian education in, 
256-258; education in, 272; recon- 



INDEX 



437 



struction in, 287 ; attitude toward 
Seceders in, 287 ; contribution for 
orphan asylum in, 311; dialects of, 
327; contrast between farming in 
Iowa and, 330, 331; effort to 
6trenerthen bond between United 
States and, 365 

Holland (Grundy County), 194 

Holland (Sioux County), selecuon of 
site of, 133 

Holland (Michigan), 156, 18S, 251; 
Hope College at, 274, 278, 303 ; 
relief for fire sufferers at, 311 

Holland Academy, 281, 303 

Holland Township (Sioux County), 
early dwellings in, 142, 143 ; ref- 
erence to, 145, 153, 340; Holland- 
ers in, 148, 180, 201; establish- 
ment of, 179; original size of, 185; 
population of, 186; proportion of 
Hollanders in, 187; politics in, 241 

Hollander, De, 247 

Hollanders, character of history of, in 
Iowa, 7, 8 ; early achievements of, 
15; cessation of immigration of, 
25 ; feeling of national pride among, 
26, 317; predominance of, in New 
York, 27; communities of, in Mis- 
sissippi Vallev, 28, 29 ; distribu- 
tion of, in United States, 29, 376; 
causes of emigration of, 30, 317; 
favorable reports sent to fatherland 
by, 41 ; advice to, 42 ; journey of, 
to America, 45-47 ; arrival of, in 
America, 45, 46, 47 ; attempts to 
exploit, 49 ; impressions of Balti- 
more by, 50 ; attitude of Americans 
toward, 50, 51, 55, 56, 213, 216, 
218; journey of, to St. Louis, 53- 
58 ; sufferings of, on journey, 52, 
53 ; Scholte invited to preach to, 
54, 55 ; character of land desired 
by, 59, 60 ; last step in finding 
home for, 61 ; arrival of, in Iowa, 
65-69 ; departure of, from St. 
Louis, 65, 66; deaths among, 66; 
description of, 67, 107, 108, 109, 
110; disappointment of, 67, 68; life 
of, in Holland, 68, 69 ; description 
of land purchased by, 70, 73 ; land 
chosen by lot by, 72 ; first dwellings 
of, 73, 74, 75 ; establishment of, 
in Marion County, 73-81 ; dwellings 
of, in Pella, 76 ; agricultural activi- 
ties of, 76-79 ; dairy farming by, 
77, 78 ; adaptation of, to frontier 
life, 78, 79, 81; manufacture of 
farm implements for, 79 ; aversion 
of number of, to work, 81 ; early 
experiences of, in Iowa, 82-85 ; 
fresh accessions of, 83, 122, 295; 
sufferings of, during winter, 83 ; re- 
lief of destitution of, 83-85; profit 
of, from gold-seekers, 84, 85 ; hopes 
and disappointments of, 36-93 ; 
mail facilities of. 86, 87 ; inconven- 



ience of, in securing markets, 87; 
route of transporting supplies for, 
88 ; interest of, in improvement of 
Des Moines River, 89, 90; agita- 
tion among, for railroads, 91, 92 ; 
attitude of, toward location of cap- 
ital, 92 ; comparison of, in Iowa 
and Michigan, 94, 96; appeal of 
Scholte to wealthy, 97; attempt to 
turn, from Iowa, 98 ; routes of, to 
Iowa, 99 ; township government 
given to, 99, 212; encouragement 
of, in Michigan, 99 ; number of, in 
Iowa, 103-105 ; expansion of col- 
ony of, 103, 104; number of, by 
counties, 104, 105; gratitude of, 
to American settlers, 107; prosper- 
ity of, 109, 148; rejoicing among, 
at completion of railroad, 113, 114; 
celebration of quarter centennial of 
settlement of, 114; encouragement 
of immigration of, 116-121; appli- 
cations for homesteads signed by, 
131; land in northwestern Iowa, 
available for, 131; desire of, for 
large tract of land, 133 ; land along 
railroad chosen by, 134; emigration 
of, to Sioux County, 140; early 
dwellings of, in Sioux County, 141- 
143 ; community life among, 143, 
148, 317-336; financial condition 
of, 143, 144, 161, 162; difficulties 
of, with Americans in Sioux Coun- 
ty, 144 ; name always perpetuated 
by, 145; strength of, in elections, 
147, 148 ; increase in number of, 
in Sioux County, 154; account of 
condition of, in Iowa, 157 ; crowd- 
ing of, in cities, 157 ; harvest reap- 
ed by, during first years in Sioux 
County, 160-162; hardship among, 
on account of locusts, 160178; 
destitution among, 164; relief for, 
164-169; attitude of, toward relief, 
168, 169; discouragement of, 171, 
172, 175; progress of, in Sioux 
County, 173, 174; attempt of, to 
destroy grasshoppers, 176; trying 
ordeal of, 177, 178; growth of" col- 
ony of, in Sioux County, 179-191; 
planting of trees by, 181; excur- 
sion of, to Orange City, 183-185; 
proportion of, in Sioux County, 186, 
187, 189; quarter centennial of 
settlement of, in Sioux County, 189- 
191 ; distribution and growth in 
number of, in Iowa, 192-207; over- 
flow lands bought by, 198 ; inspec- 
tion of new lands by, 199, 200; 
clannishness of, 200, 315, 319; 
largest settlement of, in Iowa, 201 ; 
emigration of, from Iowa, 204; 
lack of desire of, to return to Hol- 
land, 205; recent immigration of, 
to Iowa, 205-207; political begin- 
nings among, 208-218; political ex- 



438 



INDEX 



periences of, in Holland, 208, 209; 
oath of allegiance to United States 
taken by, 211, 212; first officers 
elected by, 214; translation of of- 
ficial documents for, 214, 215; in- 
fluence of, in Marion County poli- 
tics, 215 ; rejoicing of, in political 
freedom, 216-218; participation by, 
in elections, 219-244; astonishment 
of, at interest of Americans in pol- 
itics, 221 ; reasons for support of 
Democratic party bv, 222 ; attitude 
of, toward slavery, 222, 223, 226; 
Democratic party supported by, 224- 
232; attitude of, toward negro suf- 
frage, 226, 227; service of, in Civil 
War, 230; sympathy of, with North, 
231; journey of, to Calliope, 236; 
safe carried away by, 236, 237; 
victory of, over Calliope gang, 237; 
effort to exclude, from office, 239, 
240; victory of, over Americans, 
240; offices "held by, 240, 242, 410; 
newspapers read by, 245-255 ; ob- 
jections of, to being called Germans, 
246 ; pioneer schools among, 256- 
265; means of education among, 
256-286; interest of, at first turned 
from education in Iowa, 253, 259; 
parochial schools among, 266-270; 
lack of interest in Christian educa- 
tion among, 267; lack of interest 
of, in common schools, 271; effect 
of common school education among, 
271, 272; interest of, in higher ed- 
ucation, 273-275; attitude of, to- 
ward Central University, 277-279; 
early religious life among, 287-293 ; 
churches among, 294-309; religious 
life of, in 1910, 310-316; tolerance 
of, 310; benevolences of, 311, 312; 
church attendance of, 312, 313; 
differences between Americans and, 
in religion, 314; failure of, to be- 
come assimilated in America, 318, 
319; home life of, 322-324; lack of 
culture among, 324 ; change in life 
of, on coming to Iowa, 325 ; domoc- 
racy among, 325, 326; attitude of, 
on liquor question, 327 ; amusements 
of, 328, 329 ; adoption of American 
ways by, 329 ; prosperity of, as 
farmers, 329-336; improvement of 
soil fertility by, 333; interest of, in 
fine breeds of live stock, 333, 334; 
industry of, 334; adoption of new 
ideas by, 334, 335; conservatism 
of, 335; lack of reading among 
335; honesty of, 336; attitude of 
during Boer war, 349-362; rejoic 
ing of, at Boer victories, 353, 354 
money sent to Boers by, 354, 355 
"Transvaal Days" held by, 355 
indignation of, at tales of Boer suf 
ferings, 360, 361 ; amoTint of 
money given to Boers by, 362; re- 



fusal of, to sell horses, 362; sta- 
tistics of immigration of, 376 (see 
also Dutch) 

Hollidaysburg (Pennsylvania), 51, 
385 

Holstein cattle, 334 

Home, choice of, in Iowa, 57-04 

Homeseekers, eagerness of, to obtain 
land, 129, 130 

Homestead, The, 335, 422 

Homesteads, taking of, by Hollanders, 
77 ; applications for, signed by 
Hollanders, 131; apportionment of, 
134 ; law relative to securing of, 
134, 135; visit of Hollanders to, 
in Sioux County, 136 ; act for re- 
lief of holders of, 171 ; rise in value 
of, 199 

Iloog Blokland (Holland), office of 
Hospers at, 151; reference to, 391 

Hope College, higher education re- 
ceived at, 274 ; reference to, 278, 
281, 283, 286, 303 

Hope School, 269, 414 

Horses, need for purchase of, 161 ; 
herding of, 182; raising of, in 
Sioux County, 333; fine breeds of, 
334; cost of, 343; purchase of, by 
English, 361, 362 

Hotels, 110 

House of Representatives, resolution 
in, 118, 358 

Houses, description of, 322 

Howard County, Hollanders in, 194 

Howell Station, 390 

Hospers, Henrv, 109, 124, 134, 154, 
180, 199, 240, 260, 280, 353, 409, 
412 ; Governor's message translated 
by, 118, 119; service of, as immi- 
grant agent in Holland, 121, 151, 
152; visit of, in Missouri, 122; 
interest of, in emigration move- 
ment, 122, 123 ; newspaper edited 
by, 124, 150, 155, 150, 249, 250, 
252, 254; early career of, 150, 151; 
third of land on town-site given to, 
131, 146; member of investigating 
committee, 132 ; journey of, to Sioux 
City, 132; settlement in Sioux 
County promoted by, 140, 150159 ; 
colony store built by, 147 ; pamph- 
let published by, 152; report of, to 
Board of Immigration, 152, 153 ; 
position of, in Sioux County, 153, 
154, 244; citizen's club urged by, 
156; advertisements placed in news- 
papers by, 157 ; prediction of, con- 
cerning Sioux County, 15S. 159; 
relief for Hollanders solicited by, 
165; wise counsel and cheerfulness 
of, 172-174; service of, to Dutch 
colony, 178; account of founding 
of colony by, 190; candidacy of, 
for surveyor, 222 ; office held by, 
224, 235," 237, 242; defeat of. for 
Representative, 233 ; efforts of, to 



INDEX 



439 



secure seating of officers, 236; 
suit fought by, 237, 238; activities 
of, as editor, 238-240; election of, 
as Representative, 243, 244; news- 
paper sold by, 251 ; land for acad- 
emy donated by, 282 ; cane pre- 
sented to, 400 

Hospers, Isaac, newspaper edited by, 
255 

Hospers, John, 291, 412 ; diary of, 
391 

Hospers, John W., oiSce held bv, 242 

Hospers (Iowa), 170, 173, 180, 191, 
284; Dutch church at, 186, 302, 
306; proportion of Hollanders in, 
187 ; population of, 202 ; money 
raised for Boers at, 360 

Hudson, Hendrik, discovery of Hud- 
son River by, 15, 16 

Hudson River, discovery of, 16; 
troubles of early settlers on, 17 ; 
Dutch settlempnts on, 18 ; patroon 
system established along, 18 ; refer- 
ence to, 25 

Huguenots, immigration of, 21 

Huizenga, Frank J., office held by, 
242 

Hull, former name of, 186; reference 
to, 191, 270; population of, 203; 
plan for parochial school at, 269 ; 
Dutch church at, 302, 306; money 
raised for Boers at, 360 

Hull (North Dakota), 204 

Humboldt County, Hollanders in, 105, 
194 

Huntsman, H. C, 223 

Illinois, Dutch churches in, 29; Hol- 
landers in, 29, 376; preference of 
Scholte for, 59 ; unoccupied lands 
in, 61; reference to, 115, 157, 159, 
204, 254, 382 ; promotion of immi- 
gration to, 120 

Illinois Canal, 57 

Illinois Central Railroad, promotion 
of immigration by, 120; line of, 
128 

Illinois River, 99 

Immigrant Commissioner of Iowa, ap- 
pointment of, 120; discontinuance 
of otifiee of, urged, 120 

Immigrants, dangers to, 48-50; finan- 
cial condition of, 95, 161, 162 ; 
temptations experienced by, 08 ; ad- 
vice to, by Scholte, 98, 99 : routes 
of, 99 ; hardships of, on journey, 
101; selection of points of destina- 
tion bv, 120; protection of, at New 
York City, 120; nationality of, 376 
(see also Emigrants) 

Immigration, studv of, 7; early pro- 
motion of, to Pella, 94-100; offi- 
cial encouragement of, 99 ; twenty- 
five years of, 101-105; discussion 
of, by Scholte, 102, 103 ; fluctu- 
ations in, 104; encouragement of. 



by State, 115-121; promotion of, by 
western States, 115; encourage- 
ment of, by private agencies, 116; 
promotion of, by Wisconsin, 119; 
attitude of Hempstead loward, 
119; promotion of, to Sioux 
County by Hospers, 150-159; effect 
of railroads on, 187 (see also Emi- 
gration) 

Immigration, Board of, members of, 
120; activities of, 120, 121; ap- 
pointment of Hospers by, 151 ; re- 
port of Hospers to, 152, 153 

Immigration, Commissioner of, Per- 
kins as, 187 

India, search for passage to, 16; re- 
lief for famine sufferers in, 311, 
352 

Indiana, Dutch colonies in, 28 ; Dutch 
churches in, 29 ; emigrants from, 
65; reference to, 115, 159; Hol- 
landers in, 376 

Indians, trade of Dutch with, 16, 18, 
19 ; dangers from, 17 ; massacres 
by, 19; arrogance of, 20; refer- 
ence to, 23, 61 ; proximity of, in 
Michigan, 59 ; land ceded by, 70 ; 
removal of, westward, 70, 71 ; evi- 
dence of, in northwestern Iowa, 
138 

Iowa, origins and present-day condi- 
tions of Dutch in, 7 ; character of 
history of Hollanders in, 7, 8 : 
source materials for history of 
Dutch in, 8 ; Dutch churches in, 
29; causes of immigration to, 30; 
leader of immigrants to, 32, 39_; 
first Dutch immigrants to, 45; atti- 
tude of Van Raalte toward, 57; 
choice of home in, 57-64; prefer- 
ence of Scholte for, 59 ; examina- 
tion of lands in, 61-63 ; selection of 
land in, 63, 64; arrival of Hol- 
landers in, 65-69 ; beginning of life 
of Hollanders in, 69 ; capital of, at 
Iowa City, 71 ; advance of pioneers 
across, 71; adaptation of Hollanders 
to life in, 81 ; early experiences of 
Hollanders in, 82-85 ; drawbacks 
of frontier life in, 86 ; importance 
of Keokuk in early history of, 87 ; 
importance of Mississippi River in 
early commerce of, 87, 88; agita- 
tion in, for improvement of Des 
Moines River, 88 ; agitation for 
railroads in, 91 ; choice of new 
site for capital of, 91, 92; begin- 
ning of Dutch immigration to, 94; 
increase in number of foreign-born 
Hollanders in, 94 ; comparison of 
Hollanders in Michigan and, 94, 
95; alleged unhealthfulness of, 95, 
96; reasons for preference for, by 
Scholte, 96; truthfulness of Scholte's 
account of, 96, 97; attempt to turn 
immigrants from, 98 ; routes to, 



440 



INDEX 



99, 346 ; failure of, to endeavor to 
attract settlers, 99 ; township gov- 
ernment given to Hollanders iu, 99 ; 
twenty-five years of Dutch immigra- 
tion to, 101-105 ; number of Hol- 
landers in, 103-105, 179, 187, 189, 
376 ; relative number of Dutch in, 
105 ; letters relative to Hollanders 
in, 107, 108, 109, 110; construc- 
tion of railroads in, 113; celebra- 
tion of quarter centennial of Hol- 
landers in, 114; encouragement of 
immigration by State of, 115-121; 
rapidity of settlement of, 115; na- 
tivity of population of, 115; satis- 
faction of, with American immigra- 
tion, 116; sparsely populated areas 
in, 117; poor showing in foreign 
immigration to, 119; overcrowding 
of part of, 125 ; means of keeping 
Hollanders in, 149 ; arrival of Hos- 
pers in, 150; efforts of Hospers to 
secure immigration to, 151, 152; 
pamphlet relative to, published by 
Hospers, 152 ; interest in Holland 
in immigration to, 152, 153 ; 
pamphlets describing resources of, 
154; pamphlet by Dutch resident 
of, 156, 157 ; account of Hollanders 
in, 157 ; purchase of additional 
land in, by Dutch, 159 ; service of 
Dutch settlers to, 169; widespread 
devastation by locusts in, 171; dis- 
couragement of settlers in, 172 ; 
most valuable land in, 178 ; Dutch 
visitor in, 183; expansion of Dutch 
element in, 192-207; emigration of 
Hollanders from, 199, 200, 204; 
largest Dutch settlement in, 201 ; 
recent Dutch immigration to, 205- 
207 ; desire of Hollanders to be- 
come permanent citizens of, 211; 
first Dutch candidate for office in, 
222 ; Dutch newspapers in, 245- 
255 ; parochial schools of Holland- 
ers in, 268-270; loss of interest in 
education among Hollanders in, 
272; reference to, 287, 343; early 
religious life among Hollanders in, 
287-293; first Dutch Reformed 
Church in, 296; causes of Dutch 
immigration to, 317; community 
life among Hollanders in, 317-836; 
character of Dutch immigrants to, 
317, 318, 329, 330; fertilitv of 
soil of, 330; best farmers in, 332; 
money sent to Boers from, 355 

Iowa, Territory of, 71 

Iowa: The Home for Immigrants, 121 

Iowa Center, 128 

Iowa City, capital at, 71 ; removal of 
capital from, 91, 92 ; hog law in, 
109; petition for removal of capital 
from, 223; reference to, 229, 275, 
355, 387 

Iowa Classis, membership of churches 



of, 302, 303 ; contributions of, to 

missions, 312 
Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railway, 

route of, 128 ; reference to, 144 
Iowa Transvaal Committee, money 

collected by, 354, 355; reference to, 

361; final appeal of, for money, 

362 
Ireland, immigrants from, in Sioux 

County, 187, 189; reference to, 376 
Ireton, population of, 203 ; interest in 

parochial school at, 269 ; Dutch 

church at, 306; reference to, 354 
Irish, 49, 51 ; proportion of, in Sioux 

County, 186, 203 
Italy, 376 

Jackson Countv, Hollanders in, 105, 
392, 403 

Jails, lack of need for, 326, 327 

Jameson Raid, 349 

Jansdam, Mr., 348 

Jasper County, choice of site for capi- 
tal in, 92; Hollanders in, 105, 195, 
197; center of Dutch population of, 
196; Dutch churches in, 297, 306 

Java, attention called to advantages 
of, 38; reasons for failure of Dutch 
to emigrate to, 38; population of, 
373; reference to, 380 

Jefferson County, Hollanders in, 105, 
195; reference to, 223 

Jefferson Township (Mahaska Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 197 

Jefferson Township (Marion County), 
land purchased by Scholte in, 70 

John Calvin Junior College, 307 

Johnson, H. F., newspaper published 
by, 251 

Johnson County, hog law in, 3 09 

Johnstown (Pennsylvania), 51, 385 

Jongewaard, Albert C, office held by, 
242 

Jongewaard, C, 223 

Jongewaard, John, office held by, 242 

Jongewaard, Nicholas, office held by, 
237, 242 

Joubert, Piet, 355 

Junction City, 133 

Juniata River, 51, 385 

Justice of the peace, 109, 214 

Kalamazoo (Michigan), Hollanders in, 
157, 158; reference to, 188, 251, 
420 

Kampen (Holland), 151, 295 

Kanawha, church at, 420 

Kansas, Dutch churches in, 29 ; emi- 
gration to, 123, 199 ; exodus from, 
171 ; distress among Hollanders in, 
174; reference to, 254, 284 

Kapelle (Holland), 185 

Keizer, J., 360 

Kentucky, Dutch pioneers in, 28 ; 
reference to, 115 

Keokuk, arrival of Hollanders at, 66; 



INDEX 



441 



journey to Marion County from, 
67 ; SVholte aided by citizens of, 
71 ; difficulty of communication 
with, 87 ; commerce at, 87 ; road to 
Pella from, 88; cost of freight to 
Pella from, 88 ; reference to, 89, 99, 
101, 114, 120, 230, 251, 392; plan 
for plank-road to Pella from, 91; 
Hollanders in, 103, 192, 193; haul- 
ing of merchandise from, 113: de- 
scription of Sioux County by editor 
from, 180; Dutch church at, 297 

Keppel, Teunis, investigations by, 58; 
reference to, 61 

Kersbergen, B., 234 

Kieft, Governor, conditions under rulo 
of, 19 : complaint against, 20 

Killduff, Hollanders near, 197 ; Dutch 
church at, 297 

Kingston (New York), 26 

Kirkwood, Samuel J., 119, 230; nomi- 
nation of, for Governor, 228 ; vote 
of Hollanders for, 229, 231, 241; 
appeal of, for volunteers, 230 

Kitchener, General, 36] 

Klay, Gerrit, service of, as Repre- 
sentative, 244 

Kline, A., service of. in Boer armies, 
359 

Klundert (Holland), conference of 
Hospers at, 152 

Kniest, Lambert, town founded by, 
195 

Kniest Township (Carroll County), 
Hollanders in, 195 

Know-Nothing party, doctrines of, 
221; opposition of Hollanders to, 
222 ; victory of, 222 ; editorial 
against, 407 

Knoxville, 71, 211, 233; county seat 
at, 92; railroad to, 114; desire for 
change of county seat from, 213 ; 
county seat retained by, 214; school 
attendance in, 271 

Knoxville Township (Marion County), 
Hollanders in, 196; common 
schools in, 271 

Kolvoord, John, office held by, 242 

Kolyn, Matthew, 283 

Koolbeek, Jacob, office held by, 242 

Kornegoor, W. J., 294 

Kossuth County, 128, 332 ; church in, 
419, 420 

Kritzinger, Commander, protest against 
execution of, 361 

Kruger, Paul, 355, 356 

Kruger, Mr., 356 

Kuyper, A. C, 291, 391, 412 

Kuyper, Simon, journey of, to Michi- 
gan, 159; reference to, 240; office 
held by, 242 

Laborers, condition of, in Holland, 34, 

35 ; wages of, 81 
Lake Forest College, 274 



Lake Prairie, olan for factories on, 

89, 90 
Lake Prairie Township (Marion 
County), land purchased by Scholte 
in, 70; number of Hollanders in, 
102, 103-105, 196; insufficiency of 
land in, 104: reference to, 107, 
226, 406; organization of, 212; 
first officers of, 214; vote on pro- 
hibitory law in, 220; influence of 
Scholte in politics in, 220; Know- 
Nothing victory in, 222 ; politics in, 
232; school districts in, 260; com- 
mon schools in, 271; population of, 
391 

Land, amount of, authorized to be 
purchased, 44 ; purchase of, in 
Marion County, 63, 64; description 
of, in Marion County, 70, 71; 
amount of, purchased by Scholte, 
71 ; price of, 71, 398 ; choice of, by 
lot, 72 ; rise in price of, 126, 141 ; 
amount of, selected by committee, 
133 ; apportionment of, to home- 
steaders, 134 ; high price of, in 
Michigan and eastern States, 158; 
fertilitv of, owned by Hollanders, 
332 

Land companies, encouragement of 
immigration bv, 116 

Land Office (Fairfield), visit of Hol- 
landers to, 62, 63 

Land Office (Sioux City), 129, 3 35; 
investigating committee at, 130, 131 

Langerak, D. W., 234 

Langerak, Meyer, 234, 409 

Language, variety of, among Hol- 
landers, 327, 328 (see also Dutch 
language) 

Lawns, care of, 320 

Lebanon, interest in parochial school 
at, 269: Dutch church at, 306 

Le Cocq, Francis, 240; office held bv, 
242 

Le Cocq, J. F., 46, 47 

Lee County, half-breed tract in, 61 ; 
Hollanders in, 105, 192, 193 

Leerdam (Iowa), laying out of, 390 

Leeuwarden (Holland), 151; confer- 
ence of Hospers at, 152 

Leffler, Shepherd, vote of Hollanders 
for, 241 

Leighton, Dutch church at, 297, 306 

Le Mars, 133, 144, 191, 354, 395; 
railroad to, 139, 141; merchandise 
hauled from, 145 ; Hollanders in, 
200; Dutch church at, 302, 306; 
mass meeting at, 359 

Lenderink, Henry J., office held by, 
242 

Leota (Minnesota), 204 

Ley den (Holland), emigration from, 
16; reference to, 295 

Levden, University of, 31 

Leyds, Dr., 355 






442 



INDEX 



Liberty Township (Marion County), 
Hollanders in, 196 

Library, public. 111 

Liebenberg, Commandant, visit of, to 
Iowa, 360 

I;ime-kilns, 80, 90, 110 

Lincoln, Abraham, nomination of, 
229 ; efforts of Scholte in behalf of, 
229; reference to, 230, 232 

Lincoln Center, church at, 419 

Lincoln Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 203 

liind, John, contribution of, to Boer 
fund, 355 

Linden (Washington), 204 

Litchville (North Dakota), 204 

Little Chute (Wisconsin), 251 

Little Rock, church at, 419 

Live-stock, 77; cost of, 343 

Liverpool (England), 46 

Locusts, ravages by, 160-178; act of 
Congress relative to settlers suffer- 
ing from, 171 (see also Grasshop- 
pers) 

Log cabins, contract for construction 
of, 67 ; reference to, 70 

London (England), 46; British ships 
burned in sight of, 246 

Long Island, 19 ; churches on, 26 

Louis XIV, expulsion of, from Hol- 
land, 246 

Luctor (Minnesota), 204 

Lumber, lack of, 75, 141; manufac- 
ture of, 76 

Lynn Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 202 

Lynn Grove Township (Jasper Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 197 

Lynnville, Hollanders near, 197 

Lyon County, available land in, 131; 
decision of committee to examine, 
133; reference to, 137, 138, 254, 
332, 399; inspection of, by com- 
mittee from Michigan, 1 58 ; Hol- 
landers in, 159, 200, 201, 204; in- 
vestigatiofl of locust ravages in, 165- 
167; Dutch churches in, 302. 306, 
419; foreign-born farmers in, 421, 
422 

Maasdam, Mr., 356 

Maasdam, Jacob, 291, 391 

Maastroom (ship), 46 

McCully, H. M., office held by, 224; 
reference to, 234 

Machinerv, purchase of, on credit, 
162, 163 

McKinley, William, attacks upon, 243, 
359; attitude of Hollanders toward, 
349, 350; reference to, 358, 361 

Madison Township (Mahaska Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 197 

Magazines, lack of, 324 

Mahaska County, 67, 232 ; Hollanders 
in, 104, 105, 192, 195, 197; center 



of Dutch population of, 196; Dutch 
official in, 233; parochial school in, 
269; Dutch churches in, 297, 306 

Maine, Dutch churches in, 29 

Manhattan, 26 

Manhattan Island, settlement of Dutch 
on, 16 

Marion County, story of Dutcii settle- 
ment in, 7 ; purchase of land in, 
63, 64; conditions upon arrival of 
Dutch in, 67, 68 ; description of, in 
1847, 70-72; establishment of, 71; 
population of, 71, 391; establish- 
ment of Dutch in, 73-81 ; agricul- 
tural character of Dutch colony in, 
76; early years of Hollanders in, 
82-85; passing of gold seekers 
through, 84 ; hopes and disappoint- 
ments of Hollanders in, 86-93 ; agi- 
tation for railroads in, 91, 92 ; 
hopes for colony in, 96 ; accession 
to Hollanders in, 102-105; spread 
of Dutch settlement in, 104, 196, 
197; number of Hollanders in, 105, 
192; reference to, 117, 145, 153, 
179, 195, 225, 228, 276, 329, 332, 
358, 407 ; reasons for emigration 
from, 122-126, 198, 199; purchase 
of land in, by speculators, 141 ; first 
dwellings in, 142 ; decrease of 
Dutch population of, 196; center of 
Dutch population of, 196; political 
beginnings among Hollanders in, 
208-218; township government given 
to Hollanders in, 212; desire for 
change of county seat of, 213; in- 
fluence of Hollanders in politics of, 
215; politics in, 219-234; vote on 
prohibitory law in, 220; vote for 
Pierce in, 220; Know-Nothing party 
in, 221; vote for Buchanan in, 
226; Representative from, 233; 
Dutch officers of, 233, 234; first 
Dutch newspaper in, 238 ; ."Vmeri- 
can press in, 249; reasons for early 
lack of education in, 258, 259; at- 
traction of wealth in, 272 ; high 
school graduates in, 274; early re- 
ligious life in, 288-293 ; disappear- 
ance of hardwood timber in, 321 ; 
laying of tile in, 333; silos in, 335; 
mortgages in, 336 

Markets, absence of convenient, 86; 
difficulty of communication with, 87 ; 
method of securing supplies from, 
87, 88 

Marne Free Press, 255 

Marshalltown, 193 

Mason, W. E., 356 

Masons, 80 

Maurice, Dutch church at, 186, 302 ; 
railroad to, 187; reference to, 191, 
284, 354; population of, 203; mass 
meetings at, 358, 359; money raised 
for Boers at, 360 

Xvlavors of Bella, 109, 224 



INDEX 



443 



Meat, price of, 343 

Medical school, 280, 281 

Meerburg:, G. F. Gezelle, 32 

Melbourne, 129, 130 

Melvin, church at, 419 

Merchandise, hauling of, from Le 
Mars, 144 

Merchants, desire of, for commercial 
gain, 15, 16 

Merrill, Samuel, recommendation of, 
120; message of, translated into 
Dutch language, 153 

Methodist Church, 109, 418 

Mexican War, land warrants to veter- 
ans of, 71 

Mexico, 81 

Michigan, Dutch churches in, 29, 295 ; 
Hollanders in, 29, 376; causes of 
immigration to, 30, 317; establish- 
ment of Dutch settlement in, 57, 
382 ; reasons for choice of, 57 ; rea- 
sons for rejection of, by Sckolte, 
58-60, 96; beginning of Dutch im- 
migration to, 94 ; comparison of 
Hollanders in Iowa and, 94, 95 ; 
advantages of, for settlement, 95; 
pamphlet describing Dutch colony 
in, 95: newcomers advised to go 
to, 98 ; ofRcial encouragement of im- 
migration to, 99 ; township govern- 
ment given to Hollanders in, 99 ; 
reference to, 117, 150, 157, 158, 
173, 204, 254, 287, 304, 305; com- 
mittee from, in Sioux County, 158; 
Dutch emigrants from, 159, 161, 
199; journey of Kuyper to, 159; 
Dutch newspaper published in, 247, 
249 ; failure of educational program 
in, 268 ; establishment of colleges 
in, 281 ; language question in 
churches in, 296; experience of 
Bolks in, 298; anti-Masonic move- 
ment in, 307; emigration from, 399 

Middelburg, Dutch church at, 186 
302, 306; reference to, 191, 201 
interest in parochial school at, 269 
money raised for Boers at, 360 

Middelkoop, William, 151 

Middle West, fore-runners of Dutch 
emigration to, 45 

Midwout, 26 

Mills, F. M., election of, 227 

Millstone River, 27 

Milwaukee, 57, 158, 251, 381; Hol- 
landers in, 157, 158 

Ministers, education of, 303, 307 

Minnesota, Dutch churches in, 29 ; 
Hollanders in, 29, 376; reference 
to, 159, 204, 254, 354, 421; Dutch 
emigrants from, 161 ; devastation 
by locusts in, 171 ; discouragement 
of settlers in, 172; emigration to, 
199, 204 

Missions, contributions to, 312 

Mississippi, emigration to, 204 

Mississippi River, 52, 99, 339 ; jour- 



ney up, 66, 340-342 ; Des Moines 
rapids in, 87 ; importance of, to 
early Iowa, 87, 88 ; Hollanders in 
counties along, 193 

Mississippi Valley, Hollanders in, 29 ; 
conditions in, 45; route from East 
to, 52 

Missouri, 115, 386 

Missouri River, crossing of, by emi- 
grants, 122 

Mohawk River, 25 

Money, lack of, 79 ; spending of, by 
Americans, 79, 80 

Monroe, Hollanders near, 197 

Monroe City, choice of, as site for 
capital, 92 

Monroe County, Hollanders in, 197 

Monroe Mirror, The, 255 

Montana, Dutch churches in, 29 

Moonlight Mission Band, 360 

Mormons, emigration of, 84 ; refer- 
ence to, 159 ; preparation of, for 
emergencies, 172 ; proposition of, to 
sell Nauvoo, 386 

Mount Carmel, founding of, 195 

Muilenburg, Hubert, member of in- 
vestigating committee, 127 

Muilenburg, William C, newspaper 
edited by, 255 

Mumm, E., 120 

Municipal improvements, 326 

Muntingh, James, school maintained 
by, 259 

Muscatine, Dutch church in, 193, 297 ; 
reference to, 230 

Muscatine County, Hollanders in, 105, 
192, 193 

Music, interest of Hollanders in, 323 

Nagasaki (ship). 46 

Napoleon, 31, 65, 287 

Nassau Township (Sioux County), 
148, 153, 240; Hollanders in, 180; 
reduction of size of, 185 ; popula- 
tion of, 186, 202; proportion of 
Hollanders in, 187; politics in, 241 

Nauvoo, proposition of Morm.ons to 
sell, 386 

Nebraska, Dutch churches in, 29 ; 
emigration to, 122, 123, 199: exo- 
dus from, 171; reference to, 354, 
421 

Nederlansche Bond, Der, 365 

Negro suffrage, attitude of Hollanders 
toward, 226, 227 

Netherlands, The, struggle between 
Spain and, 23 ; social conditions in, 
30; economic conditions in, 37; de- 
cision of Scholte to leave, 39 ; num- 
ber of emigrants from, 103 ; news- 
papers sent to, 150; efforts of 
Hospers in, to encourage emigra- 
tion, 151, 152; delegate from, to 
Evangelical Alliance, 154; emi- 
grants from, 161 ; lack of desire of 
Hollanders to return to, 205; 



444 



INDEX 






newspaper agents in, 251 ; rofer- 
once to, 307 (see also Holland) 

Nevada (Iowa), 128 

New Amstel, 26 

New Amstei'dam, character of early 
population of, 22; reference to, 26; 
school system in, 256; descriptions 
of people of, 369 

New Brunswick Seminary, 303 

New Castle (Delaware), 26 

New England, causes of early immi- 
gration to, 17; reference to, 19, 21, 
23; school system in, 262 

New Holland, proposed town of, 131; 
reference to, 146, 373 

New Jersey, prosperity of Dutch in, 
25; reference to, 26, 157, 159, 304, 
305; Dutch churches in, 27, 29; 
emigration of Dutch to, 27 ; emi- 
gration from, 28; Hollanders in, 
29, 376, 377 

New Netherland, beginnings of, 15, 
16; provision relative to peopling 
of, 16; reasons for slow growth of, 
17-21; complaint relative to, 18; 
plan for direction of settlers to, 18; 
settlements in, 18; conditions in, 
under Governor Kieft, 19 ; instruc- 
tions to settlers of, 20; petition 
from people of, 20, 21; beginning 
of agricultural settlements in, 21 
defenceless condition of, 21 ; effect 
of capture of, by English, 21. 2 
character of early population of, 
22 ; capture of, by English, 25 ; in 
heritance from, 25 ; number of 
churches in, 26, 27 ; descendants of 
colonists of, 28; reference to, 373 
New Orleans, arrival of Hollanders 
att, 45 : reference to, 87, 88, 99, 
123, 158, 342, 382; arrival of 
Barendregt at, 339 ; description of, 
339, 340; distance to St. Louis 
from, 340; fare to St. Louis from, 
840; travel by wav of, 346 

New Paltz (New York), 19 

New Purchase, The, 70 

New Sharon, Hollanders near, 197; 
reference to, 198 

New York, character of early popula- 
tion of, 22 ; prosperity of, Dutch in, 
25; Dutch churches in, 26, 27, 29; 
emigration of Dutch from, 27; 
predominance of Hollanders in, 27; 
Hollanders in, 29, 246, 376, 377; 
Scholte invited to preach in, 55 ; 
collections for Hollanders in Michi- 
gan taken in, 58; reference to, 115, 
157, 159, 304; school system in, 
262; descendants of original Dutch 
settlers of, 375 

New York City, Scholte at, 48, 55, 58 ; 
conditions in port at, 50 : method 
of shipping merchandise from, 87, 
88; reference to, 89, 98, 99, 158, 
294, 315, 381, 382; immigration 



agents in, 117; Immigrant Com- 
missioner at, 120; protection of 
immigrants in, 120; Evangelical 
Alliance at, 1 54 ; Hollanders in, 
157, 158, 376; travel by way of, 
346 

New York land companj', Iowa land 
owned by, 61 

New York Tribune, 247 

New Zealand, 373 

Newkirk, former name of, 186; refer- 
ence to, 190; population of, 202; 
Dutch church at, 302 ; meeting at, 
361 

Newspaper, founding of first at Pella, 
150 

Newspapers, advertisement of Dutch 
colony in, 154; influence of, 231, 
232; sketch of Dutch, in Iowa, 245- 
255; importance of, in America, 
247; characteristic of Dutch, 254; 
service of, in perpetuating Dutch 
language, 255 ; lack of, 324 

Newton, 128 

Neyenesch, Herman, office held by, 
224; newspaper edited by, 250, 
251; service of, as teacher, 263, 
267; reference to, 279 

Niemeyer, Rev., 360 

Nieiiwsbode, De, 247 

Nollen, Henry, 279 

Nollen, Henry G., 415 

Nollen, John, office held bv, 224; 
reference to, 2 79, 353, 415" 

Nollen, John Scholte, 274 

Norman stallions, 334 

North America, 145 

North Brabant, 382 

North Dakota, Dutch churches in, 29 ; 
emigration to, 204; reference to, 
254, 354, 421 

North Holland, 327 

North Marion (North Dakota), 204 

North Orange, change of name of, 
186; Dutch church at, 186, 302 

North Sea, 45 

North Yakima (Washington), 204 

Northwest Passage, search for, 16 

Northwestern Classical Academy, 
sketch of history of, 190, 280-286; 
reference to, 270, 273, 303 

Northwestern Iowa, investigation of, 
127-131; report on, 131; descrip- 
tion of, 136, 137; evidence of In- 
dians in, 138 ; Dutch emigration to, 
140; locust ravages in, 160: desti- 
tution in, 164: relief for, 164-169; 
Hollanders in, 200, 201 ; spread of 
Dutch churches in, 298 ; education 
of ministers in, 303 ; Dutch 
churches in, 306 

Norway, immigrants from, in Sioux 
County, 187, 189; reference to, 376 

Norwegian language, 118 

Norwegians, 203 



INDEX 



445 



Nossaman, Wellington, election of, as 

road supervisor, 214 
Notaries public, 109, 153 

Oak Harbor (Washington), 204 

Oats, 77, 170; production of, in 
Sioux County, 332 

Obertop, Caesar, assistance to Hol- 
landers by, 392 

O'Brien County, available land in, 
131; population of, 138; investiga- 
tion of locust ravages in, 165-167; 
Hollanders in, 200, 201, 203, 204; 
reference to, 254, 399; Dutch 
churches in, 302, 306 

Officers, first election of, by Holland- 
ers, 214; treatment of Hollanders 
by, 55, 56, 60, 210 

Offices, list of, held by Hollanders, 
233, 234, 240, 242 

Oggel, E. C, office held by, 242 

Oggel, H. P., newspaper published by, 
254 

Oggel, P. J., newspaper edited by, 
249, 250; reference to, 296 

Ohio, Dutch colonists in, 28; Dutch 
churches in, 29 ; emigrants from, 
65; reference to, 115, 159; school 
system in, 262; Hollanders in, 376 

Ohio River, journey of Hollanders 
down, 52; reference to, 88, 382 

Oklahoma, emigration to, 200 
( Orange, application of name, to town- 
/ ships, 396 

Orange City, platting of, 140-149; 
naming of, 145 ; original plat of, 
146; streets in, 14C; first buildings 
in, 146, 147, 280; effect of rail- 
road on development of, 147 ; 
county seat removed to, 148, 180, 
237; number of Hollanders in, 148, 
179, 201 ; importance of, 149 ; visit 
of Stuart to, 154; newspaper 
founded by Hospers at, 155, 156; 
citizen's club at, urged by Hospers, 
156; reference to, 157, 166, 182, 
*235, 236, 244, 270, 284, 298. 303, 
354, 359, 395 ; advantages of, for 
settlement, 158 ; railroad connec- 
tions of, 158, 187; efforts of Hos- 
pers to attract immigrants to, 159; 
progress of, 173 ; advice of editor 
at, 175; financial stringency at, 
177 ; twenty-five years of growlh 
in, 179-191 ; excursion from Pella 
to, 183-185; Dutch church at, 185, 
306; proportion of Hollanders in, 
187 ; description of, by Dutch visi- 
tor, 188; celebration of quarter cen- 
tennial of, 189-191; sketch of his- 
tory of, 190; safe carried to, 237; 
court-house at, 238, 243; newspaper 
removed to, 252 ; newspapers at, 
252-254; parochial school at, 269; 
academy at, 273, 282 ; high school 
pupils in, 273, 274; students from. 



at University, 275; medical school 
at, 280, 281; description of church 
service at, 299-301 ; municipal im- 
provements at, 326 ; expulsion of 
saloons from, 327; resolution of 
council of, relative to Boers, 356- 
358; mass meetings at, 358, 359; 
money raised for Boers at, 360; 
price of land near, 398: school 
property at, 414; celery raising at, 
420, 421 

Orange Free State, appeal for aid for, 
353; resolutions of councils rela- 
tive to war in, 355-358 ; reference 
to, 374 

Orange Free State Volksraad, 359 

Orangemen, pride in name of, 145 

Orange-Nassau, House of, 145 

Orange Township (Clinton County), 
Hollanders in, 193 

Orchards, scarcity of, 321 

Oregon, emigration of Mormons to, 
84; emigration of Dutch to, 123 

Osceola County, 137, 138; investiga- 
tion of locust ravages in, 165-167; 
Hollanders in, 200; churches in, 
419 

Oskaloosa, Hollanders in, 197 ; refer- 
ence to, 198 ; Dutch church at, 306 

Ostfriesland, church at, 420 

Otley, Dutch church at, 297, 306; 
mass meetings at, 358, 359 

Ottumwa, 89; railroad to, 113 

Overflow lands, 198 

Overisel (Michigan), 298 

Overkamp, G. H., 46, 288 

Overkamp, Isaac, 46, 47, 61, 223, 290, 
412; office held by, 214, 224; ser- 
vice of, as teacher, 260, 261, 263, 
267 

Overseers of the poor, 214 

Overysel (Holland), 327, 382 

Painters, 80 

Palo Alto County, 128 

Parker, Alton B., vote of Hollanders 
for, 241 

Parkersburg, Hollanders in, 194; 
church at, 419, 420 

Parochial schools, 266-270; religious 
exercises in, 270; graduates from, 
270 

Paterson (New Jersey), Hollanders 
in, 158; reference to, 187, 251 

Patroons, effect of system of land- 
holding by, 18 

Pattersonville, change of name of, 186; 
church at, 186; railroad to, 187 

Pedlers, 20 

Pella, 9, 120, 158, 173, 188, 197, 
237, 269; laying out of, 73, 74; 
motto of inhabitants of, 74 ; dwell- 
ings in, 76; previous occupations 
of early settlers of, 80; description 
of conditions at, 81 ; arrival of 
large group of Hollanders at, 83 ; 



446 



INDEX 



business life in, 83, 94, 114; pass- 
ing of gold-seekers through, 84, 85 ; 
post-route to, 8G, 87 ; road from 
Keokuk to, 83; cost of freight from 
Keokuk to, 88 ; importance of Des 
Moines River improvement to, 89 ; 
plan of merchants of, 91 ; plan for 
plank road from Keokuk to, 91; 
advantageous situation of, 91; peti- 
tions for location of capital at, 92 ; 
early promotion of immigration to, 
94-100; letters by Scholte describ- 
ing, 96-99 ; arrival of new families 
at, 98, 101-105; price of lots at, 
99 ; desirability of, as place for 
settlement, 102, 103 ; prosperity at, 
106-114; Germans and French at, 
106; location of Central University 
at, 106, 107; American business 
men at, 107; nationality of popula- 
tion of, 107; description "of, 108-112, 
320, 322, 326; difficulty with stock 
running at large in, 109 ; city offi- 
cers of, 109; Dutch churches in, 
109, 110, 417, 418; business 
houses in, 110; stage route through, 
112 ; first locomotive in, 113 ; re- 
joicing in, at completion of rail- 
road, 113, 114; celebration of 
quarter centennial of, 114; ac- 
counts of, by Scholte, 116; reports 
from, by Sipma, 116; absence of 
need for advertising, 116, 117; 
value of advice of people of, 117; 
Governor's message printed in paper 
at, 118; reasons for emigration 
from, 122-126 ; increase in popula- 
tion of, 122 ; colonization fever in, 
123; meetings at, to discuss colo- 
nization, 124, 125 ; departure of 
investigating committee from, 127 ; 
route of investigating committee 
from, 128; amount of land sub- 
scribed for by people of, 131: pub- 
lic meeting at, 131 ; return of com- 
mittee to, 131, 134; apportion- 
ment of land to emigrants from, 
134; visit of emigrants from, to 
Sioux County, 136; interest in emi- 
gration at, 140; effect of prosperity 
at, 141 ; emigration of pioneers of, 
141 ; attitude of settlers of, toward 
King William, 145 ; importance of 
founding of daughter-colony of, 148, 
149 ; career of Hospers at, 150, 
151; resignation of Hospers as 
mayor of, 153 ; emigrants from, 
161; relief supplies sent to Sioux 
County from, 164; excursion to 
Orange City from, 183-185; pro- 
portion of Hollanders in, 196; 
Dutch settlements around, 197, 
198; oath of allegiance taken at, 
211, 212; influence of Scholte in 
politics in, 220; incorporation of, 
223 ; petitions for removal of capi- 



tal to, 223 ; opposition of Scholte 
to phase of charter of, 224; first 
town officers of, 224; response to 
call to arms in, 230; newspapers at, 
231, 232, 245-252 ; politics in, 
232 ; private school at, 259 ; first 
schoolhouse at, 260; school dis- 
trict organized at, 260; need for 
new school building at, 261, 262; 
beginnings of Baptist college at, 
263; new school building at, 263, 
264; election of school directors at, 
265; parochial school at, 266-268, 
270; school statistics in, 271; 
academy at, 273 ; high school at, 
273; high school pupils in, 273, 
274; history of Central University 
at, 276-279; early religious life at, 
287-293; first Dutch church at, 
288; first Sunday-school at, 291; 
history of churches at, 295-297 ; 
305, 306 ; language question in 
churches at, 296; education of 
ministers at, 303 ; pew rents at, 
312, 313; public library at, 324; 
municipal improvements at, 326; 
expulsion of saloons from, 327; de- 
scription of Hollanders at, 329, 
330; unsecured notes in banks of, 
336; resolution of council of, rela- 
tive to Boers, 355, 356; mass meet- 
ings at, 358; collection of money for 
Boers at, 360; meaning of name, 
388 

Bella (Nebraska), 199 

Pella Blade, sketch of history of, 250 

Bella Classis, membership of churches 
of, 297, 298 ; contributions of, to 
missions, 312 

Pella Gazette, De, sketch of history 
of, 250, 251 

Pella Gazette, The, editors of, 110, 
220; founding of, 220; reference 
to, 226; sketch of history of, 245- 
249; reasons for suspension of, 
248, 249 

Bella National Bank, 422 

Pella' s Maandblad, 250 

Pclla's Nieuwshlad, 251 ; bulletins 
posted bv, 353 ; attacks on McKin- 
ley by, 359 

Pella's Weekblad, emigration move- 
ment promoted by, 124, 140; Sioux 
County colony advertised in, 150; 
reference to, 154, 362; sketch of 
history of, 249-252 ; agents for, 
251 

Belmulder, Jelle, emigration _ plan 
promoted by, 123 ; member of inves- 
tigating committee, 127 ; letters by, 
127, 128; emigrant train led by, 
140; office held by, 233, 237, 342; 
reference to, 240 

Bennsylvania, Dutch churches in, 27, 
28, 29; reference to, 115 



INDEX 



447 



Pennsylvania Canal and Portage 
Railway, 51 

Pennsylvania Railroad, construction 
of, 51 

Peoria (Iowa), parochial school at, 
269 

Percheron stallions, 334 

Perkins, George D., efforts of, to at- 
tract immigrants, 187 

Perkins, population of, 203 

Peru Township (Dubuque County), 
Hollanders in, 103 

Pew rents, 312, 313 

Philadelphia, method of traveling to 
Pittsburgh from, 51 

Philippine Islands, 243 

Pierce, Franklin, 220 

"Piefer Ploris" (ship), 46 

Pioneers, homesteads of, 70 ; advance 
of, across Iowa, 71 ; purchase of 
farms of, 83 ; importance of Mis- 
sissippi River to, 87 

Pittsburgh, method of traveling from 
Philadelphia to, 51 ; reference to, 
52; Seholte at, 55 

Plank-road, 91 

Plato Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 203 

Platte (South Dakota), 204 

Plymouth County, Hollanders in, 105, 
200, 201, 204; reference to, 129, 
133, 137, 191, 254, 332, 399; 
population of, 138; investigation of 
locust ravages in, 165-167; Dutch 
church in, 102, 306; foreign-born 
farmers in, 422 

Pocahontas County, 128 

Poland, 376 

Poland China hogs, 334 

Politics, participation bv Hollanders 
in, 208-244 

Polk County, Hollanders in, 105, 195 

Polk Township (Marion County), 
Hollanders in, 196 

Poor-house, 110 

Population, growth in, in Sioux 
County, 179-191; growth and 
spread of Dutch, in Iowa, 192-207 

Port, M. J., committee guided by, 63 

Portugal, 376 

Postmaster, 109 

Post-office, relocation of, 86 

Post-routes, relocation of, 86, 87 

Potatoes, 160 

Pottawattamie Countv, Hollanders in, 
105, 194; reference to, 332; for- 
eign-born farmers in, 422 

Poultry, raising of, in Sioux County, 
333' 

Prairie, 133; description of, 136, 137; 
breaking of, 142, 143; promises to 
break, 147; transformation of, into 
fields, 160, 161 ; grass left on, 174, 
175 

Prairie City, Hollanders near, 197 ; 
Dutch church at, 306 



Prairie Township (Mahaska County), 
Hollanders in, 197 

Prairie View (Kansas), 199 

Preemptions, law relative to, 135; act 
for relief of settlers making, 171 

Presbyterians, kindness of, to Hol- 
landers, 56 

President, election of, 215, 216 

Press, sketch of Dutch, in Iowa, 245- 
255 

Prince of Orange, 145 

Privation, years of, at Pella, 82-85 

Products (agricultural), 77; difficulty 
in securing transportation of, 87 ; 
prices for, 106 

Prohibitory law, vote of Hollanders 
against, 220, 225 

Promissory notes, signing of, by Hol- 
landers, 163; attempts to "evade 
payment of, 169 

Prosecuting attorney, 242 

Public library, 324 

Puritans, 21, 277; character of, 24 

Racine (Wisconsin), 57 

Railroads, lack of, 86, 138; agitation 
for, 91, 92 ; construction of, in 
Iowa, 113 ; encouragement of immi- 
gration by, 116; land grants to, 
i34; government land along line of, 
134, 135; advance of, in north- 
western Iowa, 139; advantages of 
Orange City in respect to, 158; 
coming of, to Sioux County, 187 

Raritan River, 27 

Reading Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 203 

Reasnor, Hollanders near. 197; refer- 
ence to, 297; Dutch church at, 306 

Reconcentrado camps, tales of suffer- 
ing in, 361 

Red Rock Township (Marion Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 196 

Relief for grasshopper sufferers, 164- 
169 

Religious liberty, struggle of Dutch 
colonists for, 27 

Religious life, early, among Holland- 
ers, 287-293 ; description of present, 
among Hollanders, 310-316 

Representative (State), defeat of Hos- 
pers as candidate for, 150, 151, 
233; Van Leuven as, 233; Rietveld 
as, 234; election of Hospers as, 
243, 244; election of Klay as, 244 

Republican party, attitude of Holland- 
ers toward, 222 ; joining of, by 
Seholte, 227-229, 407; accessions 
to, caused by Seholte, 229 ; support 
of, by Hollanders, 237, 241 

Republican State Convention, Seholte 
at, 227, 228, 229 

Republicans, 220, 358; accusations 
against, 350 

Reuvers, Mr., 356 

Revolutionary War, 28 



448 



INDEX 



Rliine River, 15 

Rhodes, Cecil, 349, 355, 425 

Rhodes Scholarship, attitude of Hol- 
landers toward acceptance of, 424, 
425 

Rhynsburger, C, 120 

Richland Township (Mahaska Coun- 
ty), Hollanders in, 197; vote for 
Roosevelt in, 232 ; parochial school 
in, 269 

Rietveld, Herman, office held by, 234 

Rietveld, J., 46, 47, 61 

Rivers, land along, 343 

Road supervisors, 214 

Rochester (New York), Hollanders in, 
157, 158; reference to, 187, 188 

Rock River, difficulty with American 
settlers on, 144 ; purchase of land 
in valley of, 159 ; reference to, 182 

Rock Township (Sioux County), popu- 
lation of, 203 

Rock Valley, Dutch church at, 186, 
302, 306; reference to, 191, 270, 
284; population of, 203; plan for 
parochial school at, 269; mass meet- 
ings at, 358, 359; money raised 
for Boers at, 360 

Rocky Mountain locusts, 171 

Roman Catholics, exclusion of, from 
emigrant associations, 43 

Roosevelt, Theodore, vote of Holland- 
ers for, 232, 241 ; attack upon, 243 ; 
alleged aid of English by, 361, 411; 
interview of Stead with, 424 

Roseland (Minnesota), 204 

Roselle Township (Carroll County), 
Hollanders in, 195 

Rotterdam (Holland), departure of 
emigrants from, 45, 46 ; Hospers 
at, 151, 152; reference to, 151, 
347, 348; departure of Van Raalte 
from, 382 

Rotterdam (Kansas), 199 

Route of Hollanders to Iowa, 51-53, 
99, 346 

Roxbury (Massachusetts), 251 

Roziersz, J,, election of, as treasurer, 
214 

Rusch, Nicholas J., experiences of, as 
Immigrant Commissioner, 120 

Russia, 352, 376 

Rutgers College, 303 

Scandinavians, 336 

Schaap, Jan, 343 

Schaap, Peter R., office held by, 242 

Schaefer, John, 404 

Schenectady (New York), 19 

Scholte, Henrv Peter, 32, 46, 80, 83, 
90, 92, 109, 150, 221, 265, 266, 
279, 297, 302, 378, 382, 388; po- 
sition of, among Seceders, 32 ; per- 
secution suffered by, 33 ; need of 
emigration realized by, 35, 36; atti- 
tude of, toward United States, 39, 
40 ; reasons of, for leaving Holland, 



40, 41 ; emigration encouraged by, 
42-44; periodical published by, 44; 
letter from Barendregt to, 45, 339, 
348 ; arrival of, at Boston, 48 ; 
dangers to immigrants described by, 
48-50; immigrants met by, 50; re- 
ception of, in America, 54-56; invi- 
tations to, to preach, 54, 55 ; 
attention of, called to Michigan, 58 ; 
reasons for rejection of Michigan 
by, 68-60; investigations by, 60- 
63 ; description of purchase of land 
by, 63, 64 ; contract for building 
of cabins made by, 67 ; description 
of land purchased by, 70, 71; 
amount of land purchased by, 71; 
price paid for land by, 71; money 
advanced by, 71, 72; precautions 
taken by, 72 ; names given to 
streets by, 73, 74 ; saw-mill installed 
by, 76; description of conditions 
at Pella by, 81; post-office secured 
by, 86 ; town of Amsterdam laid 
out by, 89, 214; offer of, to donate 
land for capital, 92, 223 ; character 
of followers of, 94, 95 ; letters de- 
scribing Pella written by, 96-99 ; 
discussion of immigration by, 102, 
103; English garden of, 108; wal- 
nut grove of, 108 ; newspaper edited 
by, 110, 220, 245-249; pamphlets 
by, 116; Governor's message trans- 
lated by, 118; political conditions 
in America discussed bv, 209, 210, 
212, 213, 215-218; plan of, to plat 
new town, 213 ; election of, as jus- 
tice of peace, 214; election of, as 
school inspector, 214; election held 
at house of, 214; memorial to legis- 
lature drawn up by, 215; influence 
of, in politics, 220; opposition of, 
to Know-Nothings, 222 ; opposition 
of, to incorporation of Pella, 223, 
224; political speeches by, 225, 
226; Dutch news published by, 226; 
defeat of, for State Binder, 227; 
desertion of Democratic party by, 
227-229, 407, 408; election of, as 
delegate to Chicago convention, 229 ; 
religious periodical published by, 
250; complaint of, 258, 259; ac- 
tivities of, as school inspector, 259, 
260; education of, 259, 260; inter- 
est of, in higher education, 276; 
land for college donated by, 276; 
efforts of, in behalf of Central Uni- 
versity, 277; religious life at Pella 
described by, 288, 289, 290; 
preaching by, 290; breach between 
church and, 291, 292; church es- 
tablished by followers of, 292, 293 ; 
loss of influence of, 293 ; occupa- 
tions of, 293 ; reason for refusal of, 
to join church, 294 ; pulpit formerly 
used by, 417 
Scholte, Henry P., acknowledgments 



INDEX 



449 



to, 9; reference to, 379, 390, 404, 
422 

School directors, election of, at Pella, 
265 

School inspector, 314, 259, 260 

Sehoolhouse, first, at Pella, 260; 
need for new, at Pella, 261, 262; 
building of new, at Pella, 263, 264 

Schoolhouses, 173; number of, in 
Sioux County, 280; character of, 
326 

Schools, high standard of, in Hol- 
land, 256 ; pioneer, among Holland- 
ers, 256-265 ; religious exercises in, 
260; discussion of systems of, 262; 
discussion of method of support 
ing, 263, 264; new law for support 
of, 265 ; establishment of Christian, 
266-270; lack of Christian educa- 
tion in public, 268, 269; public and 
high, 271-275 

Scotland, 45, 376 

Scott County, Hollanders in, 105, 193 

Scott Township (Mahaska County), 
Hollanders in, 197 

Sac and Fox Indians, reservation for 
half-breeds of, 61 

St. Joseph (Missouri), Hospers at, 122 

St. Louis, 45, 58, 61, 68, 81, 87, 88, 
97, 99, 106, 158, 347; journey 
from Baltimore to, 48-53 ; arrival of 
Hollanders at, 52 ; experiences of 
Hollanders in, 52, 53 ; deaths of 
Hollanders at, 53 ; reception of Hol- 
landers at, 56; return of committee 
to, 64 ; departure of Hollanders 
from, 65, 66, 101; difficulty of 
communication with, 87 ; plan for 
shipping corn to, 91 ; distance from 
New Orleans to, 340; fare from 
New Orleans to, 340; arrival of 
Barendregt at, 342 ; description of, 
342, 343; travel by way of, 346 

St. Paul, 139, 158 

St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad, 
land grant to, 134; completion of, 
to East Orange, 147 ; reference to, 
180 

Saloons, absence of, in Pella, 110; 
expulsion of, 327 

Sanborn, Dutch church at, 203 

Sandusky (Ohio), railroad to Cin- 
cinnati from, 99 

Sarah Sand (steamboat), 46 

Saw-mills, 76, 110 

Seceders, leaders of, 32 ; reference to, 
57 ; position of, in Holland, 287 
(see also Separatists and Dissent- 
ers) 

Secret societies, opposition to, 307, 308 

Seed, appropriation for purchase of, 
168, 169 

Senator (State), Balkema as, 244; 
Hospers as, 244 

Separation, Father of the, 32 

Separatists, persecution of, 32-34 ; 



spread of beliefs of, 33 ; desire of, 
for freedom, 37; appeal of, to gov- 
ernment, 38 ; emigration to Amer- 
ica urged by, 39, 42 ; desire of, 
for means of education, 256-258; 
difference of opinion between Scholte 
and, 294 (see also Seceders and 
Dissenters) 

Settlers, troubles of early, 17 ; plan 
for direction of, to America, 18 ; 
purchase of land from, 63, 64, 71; 
gratitude of Dutch to American, 107 

Settlers Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 203 

Shambaugh, Benj. F., editor's intro 
duction by, 5, 6 ; acknowledgments 
to, 9 

Shaw, Leslie M., 360 

Sheboygan County (Wisconsin), 244 

Sheldon, 166, 270; Hollanders in, 
200, 203; parochial school at, 269, 
Dutch church at, 302 306, 

Sheldon Mail, The, 255 

Sheridan Township (Sioux County), 
population of, 202, 203 

Sheriff, 237, 241, 242 

Sherman Township (Sioux County), 
establishment of, 185 ; population 
of, 186, 203; proportion of Hol- 
landers in, 187; politics in, 241 

's Hertogenbosch (Holland), confer- 
ence of Hospers at, 152 

Shoemakers, 80 

Shorthorn cattle, 334 

Sibley, 166; Hollanders in, 200; Dutch 
church at, 419 

Sijnhorst, Dk., election of, as road 
supervisor, 214 

Silos, 335 

Sioux Center, former name of, 186; 
proportion of Hollanders in, 187, 
202 ; railroad to, 189 ; reference to, 
191, 270, 284; efforts of, to secure 
county seat, 243 ; parochial school 
at, 269; students from, at Univer- 
sity, 275; Dutch church at, 301, 
302, 306; destruction of church 
building at, 311; church buildings 
at, 312; municipal improvements 
at, 326; correspondence from, 354; 
mass meetings at, 358, 359; money 
raised for Boers at, 360; school 
property at, 414 

Siovx Center Nieuwsblad, 242 ; edi- 
tors of, 254 

Sioux City, land office at, 129, 135; 
investigating committee at, 130, 
131; journey of committee to, 132; 
reference to, 133, 134, 139, 158, 
164, 165, 355; mass meetings at, 
359 

Sioux City and Northern Railway, 189 

Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad, 173 

Sioux City Journal, sensational state 
ment by, 354 

Sioux County, story of Dutch settle- 



450 



INDEX 



ment in, 7; reference to, 9, 153, 
170, 176, 200, 233, 254, 273, 284, 
329, 332, 358. 359, 399; number 
of Hollanders in, 105, 192 ; avail- 
able land in, 131; choice of, 132- 
135; decision of committee to exam- 
ine, 133; arrival of committee in, 
133; selection of land in, 133, 134; 
apportionment of land in, 134; rail- 
road land grant in, 134 ; glimpse 
of, in 1869, 136-139; visit of home 
steaders to, 136; establishment of 
137 ; reasons for late settlement of, 
137, 138; population of, 138, 154 
bright prospects for, 139 ; prep 
arations for journey to, 140; emi 
eration from Pella to, 140; descrip 
tion of first dwellings in, 141-143 
community life of Hollanders in 
143; difficulty of securing fuel in 
144; name of Prince of Orange per 
petuated in, 145 ; plan for town 
in, 146; importance of founding of 
colony in, 148, 149; promotion of 
immigration to, by Hospers, 150- 
159; position of Hospers in, 153 
154; experiences of Stuart in, 154 
advertisement of lands in, 156, 157 
inspection of, by committee from 
Michigan, 158; prediction of Hos- 
pers concerning, 158, 159; purchase 
of additional land in, 159: most 
memorable years in history of, 160 
abundant harvests in, 165-162; re 
quest for aid for settlers of, 165 
investigation of locust ravages in 
165-167; discouragement in. 172 
173, 175, 176; progress of Hoi 
landers in, 173, 174; emigration 
from, 176, 177, good fortune of 
Hollanders in. 178; growth of Dutch 
colony in, 179-191, 201 ; descrip- 
tion of, by Keokuk editor, 180; 
transformation in appearance of, 
180, 181; herd law adopted in, 182; 
Dutch wind-mill in, 182, 183: town- 
ships in, 185; population elements 
in, 186, 187, 189, 201-203; effect 
of locust ravages on reputation of, 
186, 187; railroads in, 187; quar- 
ter centennial of settlement of Dutch 
in, 189-191 ; reason for founding 
colony in, 199; politics in, 235- 
244; longest term of office in, 235; 
support of Republican party bv 
Dutch in, 237; suit against," 237, 
238; first Dutch newspaper in, 238; 
Representative from, 243, 244; 
newspapers in, 252-255; efforts to 
attract immigrants to, 253 ; attrac- 
tions of wealth in, 272; high school 
graduates in, 274 : students from, 
at University, 275 ; number of 
schoolhouses in, 280; interest in es- 
tablishment of college in, 281, 282 ; 
service of Bolks to people of, 298, 



301; Dutch churches in, 301-303; 
scarcity of orchards in, 321 ; soft- 
wood trees in, 321; foreign-born 
farmers in, 332, 421, 422; agricul- 
tural products in, 332,333 ; price of 
land in, 333; silos in, 335; Trans- 
vaal meeting in, 350; raising of 
money for Boers in, 360; emigra- 
tion from Michigan to, 399 

Sioux County Herald, The, 252, 255 

Sioux Township (Sioux County), pop- 
ulation of, 203 

Sipma, Sjoerd Aukes, pamphlet by, 
116; member of investigating com- 
mittee, 127 

Skating, 114 

Skeptics, exclusion of, from emigrant 
associations, 43 

Skunk River, 70, 196, 198, 297, 390; 
saw-mill on, 76, 110; schoolhouse 
near, 260 

Slavery, attitude of Hollanders toward, 
222, 223, 226 

Smeenk, J., 47, 277 

Social life among Hollanders, 323 

Sod houses, description of, 74, 75, 142, 
143 

South Africa, interest of Hollanders 
in events in, 349 ; resolutions of 
councils relative to war in, 355- 
358 ; reconcentrado camps in, 361 ; 
reference to, 374 

South America, 145 

South Carolina, Dutch churches in, 29 

South Dakota, Dutch churches in, 29 ; 
emigration to, 199, 204; reference 
to, 254, 284, 354, 421; Hollanders 
in, 376 

South Holland, emigrants from, 44; 
reference to, 327 

Southerlayid Courier, 255 

Southern States, secession of, 230 

Spain, defeat of armies of, 15 ; peace 
with, 17; struggle between Holland 
and, 23; reference to, 376 

Spanish, capture of ships of, 17 

Speculation, taste for, acquired bv 
Dutch, 163 

Speculators, efforts of, to induce im- 
migration to Michigan, 98 ; encour- 
agement of immigration by, 116; 
greed of, in Marion County, 125; 
land near Cherokee purchased by, 
132; reference to, 133; purchase 
of land in Marion County by, 141; 
land in hands of, 343 

Spring Creek (Minnesota), 204 

Springfield (Illinois), 251 

Springfield (South Dakota), 204 

Stage coaches, description of, 113 

Stage route, description of, 112, 113 

State Binder, 227 

State Printer, 227 

State Road, 88 

State University of Iowa, Hollanders 
in attendance at, 274, 275 



INDEX 



451 



Staten Island, settlement of Dutch on, 
16 

States-General, petitions of West India 
Company to, 17 ; plan of, to direct 
settlers to America, 18 ; complaint 
of, concerning colony, 18 ; appeal 
of colonists to, 19, 20, 21; refer- 
ence to, 21; complaint of West In- 
dia Company, to, 371 

Stead, William T., interview of, with 
Roosevelt, 424 

Steamboats, prosperity of traffic of, 
52; reference to, 86, 87, 89; dis- 
cussions of, 341, 342 

Steyn, President, 356 

Stcck-breeder's Journal, The, 335 

Store orders, use of, as money, 147 

Stores, 110, 111; neatness of, 327; 
"Transvaal Days" at, 355 

Storm Lake, 124; investigating com- 
mittee at, 128 

Story City, 128 

Story County, 128 

Stout, church at, 419 

Stoutenberg, A., office held by, 224 

Straw Town, 75 

Streets, at Pella, 73, 74 ; at Orange 
City, 146 

Stuart, Cohen, Dutch immigration to 
America favored by, 154, 155 

Stubenrauch, John, service of, as 
teacher, 267 ; reference to, 353, 360 

Stubenrauch, J. H., 353, 360 

Sluyvesant, Peter, appeals of, for as- 
sistance, 21 

Sullivan, J. B., vote of Hollanders 
for, 241 

Sully, Hollanders near, 197 ; Dutch 
church at, 297, 306 ; mass meet- 
ings at, 358, 359 

Summit Township (Marion County), 
community of Frieslanders in, 103; 
Hollanders in, 196; vote for Roose- 
velt in, 232 

Sunday-schools, 291, 296, 307, 313, 
314, 347 

Supervisors, Board of (see Board of 
Supervisors) 

Susquehanna River, 16, 51, 385 

Sweden, immigrants from, in Sioux 
County, 189; reference to, 376 

Swedish language, pamphlet trans- 
lated into, 121 

Switzerland, 376 

Synod of Dordrecht, 31, 294, 295 

Taft, William H., vote of Hollanders 
for, 232 

Tailors, 80 

Taintor, Hollanders near, 197 ; refer- 
ence to, 297 ; Dutch church at, 306 

Tama County, Hollanders in, 193 

Tax, necessity of, for schools, 264 ; 
increase of, for support of schools, 
265 

Taxation, oppression of people by, 35 



Taylor, Zachary, 216 

Teesdale, John, election of, 227 

Telephones, 326 

Te Paske, Anthony, office held by, 242 

Te Paske, Herman, office held by, 
242; reference to, 404, 410 

Te Veltrup, M., service of, in Boer 
armies, 359 

Texas, committee of investigation in, 
123; emigration to, 199; reference 
to, 386 

Theological Seminary, establishment 
of, in New Jersey, 27 

Timber, lack of, in "Sioux Countv, 138 

Titonka, church at, 419 

't Lam, C, election of, as road super- 
visor, 214 

Toekomst, De, character of, 250 

Toering, Henry, newspaper published 
by, 254 

Tollenaar, Dirk, newspaper owned by, 
255 

Toom, J., election of, as fence viewer. 
214 

Town life among Hollanders, 320-329 

Township clerk, 214 

Township government, granting of, to 
Hollanders, 212 

Township officers, election of, 214; ac- 
tivities of, 215 

Township treasurer, 214 

Township trustees, 214 

Traders, 20 

Transportation, lack of means of, 86, 
87 ; early means of, 88 

Transvaal, war in, 243 ; reports of 
raising of men to serve in, 354; 
resolutions of councils relative to 
war in, 355-358; reference to, 374 

Transvaal Days, 355 

Transvaalers, appeal for aid for, 351- 
353 

Trees, provision for planting of, in 
Orange City, 146; planting of, by 
Hollanders, 181; bounty for plant- 
ing of, 181, 182, 402; kind of, 
planted by Hollanders, 189; lack of 
hardwood, among Dutch, 321, 322 

Troost, E., 360 

True Reformed Church, 305 

Tuttle, James H., vote of Hollanders 
for, 231 

Twin Brooks (North Dakota), 204 

Tysseling, Tennis, 234 

Vnie, De, 248 

Union College, 303 

Union School system, 262 

Union Township (Marion County), 
Hollanders in, 196 

United Presbyterian Church, 420 

United States, early settlements of 
Dutch in, 15-24; inheritance of, 
from New Netherland, 25 ; number 
of Dutch in, 28, 105; distribution 



452 



INDEX 



of Hollanders in, 29, 376. 377; 
attitude of Hollanders toward emi- 
gration to, 38-40; land ceded to, by 
Indians, 70; land purchased from, 
72 ; successful Dutch settlements in, 
149; prediction of most populous 
Dutch settlement in, 159; satisfac- 
tion of Hollanders with government 
of, 216-218; model for school sys- 
tem of, 256; effort to strengthen 
bond between Holland and, 365; 
statistics of immigration to, 376 

United States Dragoons, evacuation 
of Fort Des Moines, by, 71 

United States Senator, election of 
Grimes as, 227 

Universitv of Leyden, Scholte a grad- 
uate o'f, 259, 260, 277 

Utah, emigration of Mormons to, 84; 
Hollanders in, 159 

Utrecht (Holland), conferences of 
Hospers at, 152; reference to, 327; 
pulpit from, 417 

Utrecht, University of, 31 

Utrecht Emigrant Association, forma- 
tion of, 44 ; journey of members of, 
to America, 44-47; officers of, 46; 
leaders of, 46, 47; reference to, 
48, 101 

Vale, Jacob G., vote of Hollanders 
for, 237 

Van Antwerp, Ver Planck, 62, 63 ; 
sketch of life of, 386, 387 

Van Asch, William, election of, as 
road supervisor, 214; reference to, 
412 

A'^an Bennett, M., 394 

Van Broekhuizen, Rev., money rais- 
ed for Boers by, 360 

Van Buren, Martin, 216, 386 

Van den Berg, Cornelius, election of, 
as constable, 214 

Van den Berg, John, 403 

Van den Bos, Dirk, member of inves- 
tigating committee, 132; emigrant 
train led by, 140 

Van den Linden, Leendert, office held 
by, 233 

Vanderberg, J. W., newspaper owned 
bv, 255 

Van der Ley, P. M., 412 

Vandermast, J., newspaper owned by, 
255 

Van der Meer, Leen, member of in- 
vestigating committee, 132 ; emi- 
grant train led by, 140 

Van der Meide, Arie, office held by, 
242; reference to, 358, 399, 400 

Van der Meulen, Charles H., news- 
paper owned by, 254 

Van der Pol, Gerrit, 61 

Van der Sluis, Mr., 356 

Van der Veen, Rev., 297 

Van der Waa, Henry John, interest 



of, in emigration movement, 124; 

member of investigating committee, 

127, 132 ; mule team of, used by 

committtee, 131; emigrant train led 

by, 140 
Van der Wilt, Arnold, office held bv, 

242 
Van der Wilt, G., election of, as road 

supervisor, 214; reference to, 234 
Van der Zee, Jacob, author's preface 

by, 7-9. 
Van Donselaar, Peter, newspaper 

owned by, 254 
Van Ginkel, Gerrit, newspaper edited 

by, 250, 251 
Van Home, 193 
Van Houten, H., 291 
Van Houwelingen, G., 412 
Van Klootwijk, K., 394 
Van Leuven, A., office held by, 233 
Van Meveren, P., election of, as road 

supervisor, 214 
Van Nimwegen, Mr., 356 
Van Oosterhout, Martin P., newspaper 

owned by, 254; reference to, 350, 

353, 362, 403 
Van Oosterhout, P. D., 353 
Van Oosterhout, Peter D., office held 

by, 242; reference to, 353 
Van Raalte, Albertus C, 32, 44, 60, 

278, 294, 295, 296, 301, 348. 391; 

emigration encouraged by, 42-44; 

colony in Michigan founded by, 57; 

Hollanders invited to Michigan by, 

57, 58 ; character of followers of, 

94; letter by, describing colony, 95, 

96; efforts of, to secure parochial 

school, 266; colleges established by, 

281; journey of, to America, 382 
Van Schelvin, G., 399 
Van Stigt, K., magazine published bv, 

252 
Van Velzen, S., 32 
Van Wagenen, A. W., 353 
Van Zante, Mr., 356 
Van Zante, Dieles, office held by, 233 
Van Zante, D. G., office held by, 233 
Viersen, Auke H.. office held by, 233 ; 

reference to, 234, 279 
A'^iersen, H. Y., 47 
Viersen, Lillian, 279 
Viersen, Sieberke, library donated by, 

324 
Viersen, Sipke H., office held by, 233 
Viljoen, H. D., visit of, to Iowa, 360 
Virginia, 19, 115 
Visitors, reception of, in Dutch homes, 

323, 324 
Volga (South Dakota), 204 
Yolksvriend, De, founding of, 155; 

objects of, 155, 156; reference to, 

187, 242 ; political activities of, 

239, 240; sketch of history of, 

252-254 
Vos, G. H., newspaper owned by, 255 
A'oyage, experiences on, 47 



INDEX 



453 



Vriczelaar, J. B., office held by, 233 
Vrije Hollander, De, 242; character 
of, 243; editors of, 254; cause of 
Boers espoused by, 350; reference 
to, 358, 361, 362: attacks on Mc- 
Kinley by, 359 

Wages, comparison of, in Holland and 
America, 41; reference to, 81, 106 

Wagon makers, 110 

Wagons, use of, for living purposes, 
141, 142 

Waldenses, immigration of, 21 

Wallace's Farmer, 335 

Walloons, emigration of, to America, 
16, 21 

Wapello County, Hollanders in, 104, 
105, 195 ; reference to, 223 ; Dutch 
church in, 297 

Warnshuis, John, office held by, 242 

Washington, Dutch churches in, 29 ; 
emigration to, 204; reference to, 
254 

Washington, D. C, 48; treatment of 
Scholte at, 60, 210 

Waukon Standard, The, 255 

Webster City, 128 

Webster County, Hollanders in, 194 

Welcome Township (Sioux County), 
establishment of, 185; Hollanders 
in, 187, 202; politics in, 24] 

Welle, P., election of, as trustee, 214 

Wellsburg, Dutch church at, 307, 419 

Welmers, Thomas E., 283 

Wesley, 420 

Wessels, C. H., 359 

West, Dutch pioneers in, 28 ; con- 
quest of, 71 ; first settlers in, 80 

West Branch, Dutch church at, 185, 
301 ; change of name of, 186 

West Branch Township (Sioux Coun- 
ty), establishment of, 185; popula- 
tion of, 186; Hollanders in, 187, 
203; politics in, 241 

West Des Moines Township (Mahas- 
ka County), Hollanders in, 197 

West India Company, provision of 
charter of, 16; character of activi- 
ties of, 16, 17; desire of, for con- 
tinuance of war, 17; neglect of col- 
onists by, 17, 18, 19; complaint 
against, 20; agreement between 
Amsterdam and, 21; complaint of, 
371 

Western Stage Company, criticism of, 
112, 113 



Western Theological Seminary, 286, 
303 

Westfield (North Dakota), 204 

Westward movement, part of Dutch 
in, 28 

Wheat, 77, 160, 170; production of, 
in Sioux County, 332, 333 

Whigs, 219, 220; desertion of, by 
Hospers, 222 

White, F. E., vote of Hollanders for, 
232 

Whitney, railroad proposed by, 92 

Wigny, A., 46 

Willempjes, 49 

William I, church regulations ap- 
proved by, 31; persecution of Sep- 
aratists by, 32 ; regulation of 
church by, 287 

AVilliam II, renouncement of allegi- 
ance to, 211. 212; plan for present 
to, 397 

William of Orange, attitude of Pella 
colonists toward, 145 ; dictum of, 
287 

Wind-mill, building of, 182; dismant- 
ling of, 183 

Winnebago County, church in, 419 

Winnie (Texas), Dutch colony at, 199 

Winter, Rev. E., 184 

Winter of 1848-49, severity of, 82, 83 

Winterswijk (Holland), 343 

Wisconsin, Hollanders in, 29, 376; 
Dutch churches in, 29 ; reference 
to, 57, 58, 95, 115, 117, 150, 157, 
158, 173, 204, 226, 284, 343, 382; 
Dutch emigration from, 154, 161; 
Dutch newspaper published in, 247, 
248, 249 

Wolmarens, A. D. W., 359 

Woodbury County, Hollanders in, 200 

Wooden-shoe-makers, 110 

Wooden shoes, use of, among Holland- 
ers, 328 

Woodland (Wisconsin), 251 

Wormhoudt, Mr., 356 

Worthing (South Dakota), 204 

Wright, church at, 420 

Wright County, Hollanders in, 194; 
church in, 419 

Zeeland, 327 
Zeeland (Michigan), 298 
Zuid Holland, 151 
Zwemer, James F., 282 



I 



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